The Paris Olympics attracted an impressive daily average of 30.6 million viewers across Comcast Corp.’s U.S. media outlets, reflecting an 82% increase compared to the Tokyo Olympics. This significant audience boost was recorded across various platforms, including NBC’s broadcast network, cable channels like USA, and the Peacock streaming service, according to a statement from NBC Sports.
Sunday’s closing ceremony alone drew a U.S. audience of 20.8 million, more than double the viewership of the Tokyo closing ceremony. Comcast leveraged the Olympics to highlight its Peacock streaming service, which remains behind competitors like Netflix, Disney+, and Max in subscriber numbers. Peacock offered streaming for all 329 medal events on demand, enhancing the viewing experience with “Gold Zone,” a popular daily program that switched between live events.
NBC went all out for the event, setting up a studio in a Parisian restaurant with a view of the Eiffel Tower. The closing ceremony was a spectacle featuring aerialists and performances by artists like the French rock band Phoenix. In a memorable moment, actor Tom Cruise descended a zipline to deliver the Olympic flag to Los Angeles, the host of the 2028 Summer Games.
Individual events also saw remarkable viewership. The U.S. men’s basketball team’s gold-medal victory over France on Saturday garnered an average audience of 19.5 million, the highest since 25.8 million watched the Atlanta final in 1996.
Internationally, the BBC reported 218 million streams of the Games on its platforms, more than doubling Tokyo’s figures. Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., which holds the European rights, also achieved record-breaking numbers with 215 million viewers and a 77% increase in paid streaming subscribers compared to Tokyo.
The Paris Games’ success stands in stark contrast to Tokyo, which suffered from lower viewership due to the time difference and the postponement caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite these wins, Warner Bros. disclosed a $100 million loss on the Paris Games, marking the final year of a contract signed in 2015. The company anticipates better alignment with its streaming and pay-TV platforms under the new contract for the 2026 Winter Games, as noted by Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels.
