The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics kicked off with an opening ceremony on Friday that averaged 21.4 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings and digital data from Adobe Analytics.
The official Nielsen Big Data + Panel viewership will be posted on Tuesday. But for now, NBCUniversal is reporting that this year’s Winter Olympics opening ceremony was up 34% from the one that kicked off the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics — which posted 15.9 million using similar methodology.
Coverage of the ceremony, live from Italy, aired in the afternoon (“Milan Prime”) followed by a primetime presentation.
“We are off to a strong start with Friday’s captivating Opening Ceremony highlighted by the historic cities, the scenic mountain areas, and the Parade of Athletes,” NBC Sports prexy Rick Cordella said in a statement. “The Opening Ceremony audience exceeded our expectations, and we can’t wait for the next two weeks of competition.”
According to NBCU, the opening ceremony averaged more than 3 million on Peacock, making it the most streamed for a Winter Games. The company also noted that “Milan Cortina Olympics streaming consumption across NBCUniversal platforms exceeded 700 million minutes through Friday – most ever for a Winter Games and 2.5 times greater than the 2022 Beijing Olympics through the comparable time frame.”
The opening ceremony also gave Friday’s episode of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” a boost, as the talker posted its most-watched telecast since Thanksgiving (2.3 million viewers).
On Sunday, the Winter Olympics will get another big ratings boost, as NBC is once again opting not to take advantage of the massive Super Bowl lead-out to promote a new, returning or pre-existing entertainment program. Instead, just like the network did in 2022, it will instead go right back to coverage of the Winter Olympics.
After the Vince Lombardi trophy is hoisted at the end of Super Bowl LX on Sunday, Feb. 8, NBC Sports will segue to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics primetime show, “Primetime in Milan,” at approximately 10:45 p.m. ET — including the women’s downhill competition (which will include Lindsey Vonn going for the gold as part of her comeback) and team figure skating.