The 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics concluded as the most-watched Winter games since 2014. This signaled much-needed growth for the lesser-watched Olympic games — which hit historic lows in its two previous installments — thanks to viewing options across NBCUniversal’s linear and streaming platforms, as well as being held in a more friendly time zone for U.S. viewers.
Overall, the Comcast-owned company’s bet on a sports-heavy February paid off as Peacock reached new heights. The wins in viewership and the proving out of its tech capabilities paved the way for Peacock’s future presentation of the Olympics — which NBC has through 2036 — as well as other big sporting events.
The Olympics, which offered 3,200 hours of coverage across 116 events, averaged 23.5 million viewers on NBC, Peacock, NBCUniversal’s digital platforms and Versant’s CNBC and USA Network across the combined live afternoon Milan prime window (2-5 p.m. ET) and U.S. primetime (8-11 p.m. ET/PT) periods, according to Nielsen big data plus panel viewership and preliminary figures.
Viewership climbed 96% from the 2022 Beijing Olympics, which averaged 12 million viewers, making the Milano Cortina games the most-watched Winter Olympics since Sochi 2014, which brought in 27.6 million average viewers over the comparable day parts. It should be noted, however, that coverage back then included former cable network NBCSN as the home to many live figure-skating competitions.
Since Sochi, the winter Olympics in Beijing and PyeongChang struggled to match that viewership, sinking to all-time lows due to time differences and delayed presentations as well as a general viewership decline.
That difference can be seen even from viewership of the opening ceremonies, with the Milano Cortina opener scoring 21.4 million viewers, a 34% increase from Beijing, which began at 6:30 a.m. ET and aired again during primetime. Even while the Milan ceremony recovered some of those viewers, that general viewership decline is still present, with the opener for PyeongChang still on top with 28.3 million viewers.
Beyond a more compatible time zone, the Olympics found its streaming groove this year, following its streaming debut during the Beijing Games. The 2026 games hit streaming milestones from the start, with the opening Saturday tallying a record 1.3 billion minutes of Olympics coverage. Altogether, the 2026 Games scored a record 16.7 billion minutes streamed across NBCUniversal digital platforms, more than double the 6.9 billion viewing minutes tallied by the prior Winter Olympics combined.
We’d be remiss not to note the role of NBC’s “Legendary February” programming block within the streaming viewership for the Olympics. NBCUniversal leveraged a sports-heavy month to drive viewers to Peacock for the Olympics, Super Bowl and NBA All-Star game, opted to sub in the coveted post-Super Bowl broadcast slot with Milan primetime coverage and also played Peacock original “The ‘Burbs” following the big game’s livestream. The company also opted not to offer the Super Bowl in its FAST channels, leading interested streaming viewers to get a subscription to tune in.
Coverage of the Olympics on Super Bowl day averaged 42 million viewers, marking NBCUniversal’s largest Winter Games audience since Day 2 of the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and even rose 73% over the corresponding 2022 Beijing Olympics show that followed Super Bowl LVI.
The Milano Cortino Games marked the first step in a promising rebound for the Winter Olympics, though only time will tell if things keep trending in that direction for the games as they head to the French Alps in 2030.
As for which events brought in the biggest audiences, hockey was a big winner. The USA-Canada matchup on Thursday marked the most-watched women’s hockey game on record with 5.3 million viewers across USA Network and Peacock, while the men’s game scored 20.7 million viewers, marking the most-watched pre-9 a.m. ET (start time) sporting event on record in U.S. history, as well as NBC Sports’ most-watched streaming audience ever (excluding NFL).
“Live with Kelly and Mark” hits season high
During a turbulent time for daytime TV, “Live with Kelly and Mark” has managed to make gains. The talk show hit a season high and its best performance in over a year during the week of Jan. 26, with an average 2.75 million viewers — up 11% from the previous week — and a household rating of 1.86 — up 13% over last week.
The series also saw gains among women 18-49, which averaged a 0.29 rating, as well as among women 25-54, which averaged a 0.48 rating during the week. Year-over-year, the show has risen 7% in total viewers, 11% in households and 4% in women 25-54.
Telemundo finales thrive
Two Telemundo shows closed out their series strong, with “Exatlón Estados Unidos” averaging 361,000 adults 18-49 and 1.45 million total viewers, while “Dinastía Casillas” averaged 626,000 demo viewers and 1.64 million total viewers, according to live-plus-same-day Nielsen figures.
Together, the network averaged 89,000 demo viewers and 1.55 million total viewers, boosting Telemundo to become the No. 1 Spanish-language primetime television network.
Oscar noms boost “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another”
After Oscars nominations were unveiled on Jan. 22, several nominees saw some streaming love, with “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another” logging 297 million minutes viewed and 215 million minutes on HBO Max, respectively, during the week of Jan. 19, per Nielsen.
While “One Battle After Another” saw a slight lift from the previous week’s viewership of 208 million viewing minutes, the Oscar nod brought “Sinners” back into the top 10 streaming movies list for the first time since July.
CBS scores in multiplatform fall ratings
The Paramount-owned network maintained its dominance among the broadcast channels, with CBS accounting for eight of the top 10 broadcast series in 35-day multiplatform ratings for the fall season.
“Tracker” topped the list with an average of 16.65 million viewers, while ABC’s “High Potential” averaged 16.07 million viewers in the No. 2 slot and “Matlock” coming in third place with 12.21 million viewers. Other CBS series in the top 10 include “Sheriff Country,” “Ghosts,” “60 Minutes,” “Boston Blue,” “NCIS” and “Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage.”
ICYMI
- Also in the NBCUniversal/Peacock sphere, “The ‘Burbs” reaped the benefits of its Super Bowl debut, with the Keke Palmer-led series reaching nearly 1 billion viewing minutes in 11 days.
- On HBO, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” went out with a bang as its finale scored another series high of 9.5 million viewers in the U.S. across three days. “The Pitt,” “Industry” and “Neighbors” also saw viewership milestones.
- Hulu’s “Tell Me Lies” ended with a ratings bang as its Season 3 finale rose 70% from its Season 3 premiere.
- Viewership for Netflix’s “America’s Next Top Model” doc outpaced the launch of “The Night Agent” Season 3
