Viewers are raving about Peacock streaming coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics this year, and it sounds like the numbers back up the hype.
In a new story on Peacock’s Gold Zone whiparound show from The Hollywood Reporter, NBC Sports president Rick Cordella states that NBC Universal’s streaming service is “regularly hitting five million viewers” during its live, daytime broadcasts of the Games.
NBC has not released standalone viewership numbers for Gold Zone, but Cordella believes the show has landed with viewers because the format is recognizable and fits the Olympics.
“I think people really understood quickly what they were gonna get when they came there, and that resonated really well [with viewers],” Cordella told THR.
Gold Zone is a play on the NFL RedZone on Sunday Ticket and NFL Network. It is hosted by two RedZone vets, Andrew Siciliano and Scott Hanson, as well as Matt Iseman and Jac Collinsworth. It airs from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET each day on Peacock.
While Gold Zone covers the constant competition in Paris, it broadcasts from NBC Sports’ home base in Stamford, Connecticut.
NBC has noticed the positive feedback from viewers on social media.
“I am always hesitant to really dive into social media, however, I did notice there were trends of response from the initial users of Gold Zone, and frankly, there were some really good ideas, which we’ve now implemented because we didn’t know until we all experienced it,” NBC Sports senior VP of Olympic production Amy Rosenfeld.
While we know Peacock averaged more than 20 million viewers for its NFL Wild Card playoff game earlier this year, not many shows, movies or live events bring in five million people at any given point. If those numbers are accurate, they would appear to mark a massive success. With more than a week left to go in the Olympics, viewership could even go up.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.