Broadcast and digital audience figures for Milano Cortina 2026 confirm a significant expansion in the audiovisual reach of the Olympic Winter Games, with performance exceeding the benchmarks set by Beijing 2022 across multiple markets and platforms. The global broadcast programme coordinated by the International Olympic Committee -IOC-, through its worldwide network of Media Rights-Holders, is reaching billions of viewers, reinforcing the strategic role of broadcast rights revenue within the Olympic economic model.
A total of 24 Media Rights-Holders and more than 80 sublicensees are distributing coverage of the Games worldwide, expanding access across linear television, streaming and digital platforms. According to the IOC, rights-holders are reporting audience figures above initial projections across all time zones, with consistent growth in both traditional winter sports markets and emerging territories.
United States drives audiovisual growth
In the United States, platforms operated by NBCUniversal are averaging 24.3 million viewers through 16 February, representing an 88 per cent increase compared with Beijing 2022 at the same stage of the competition. Daily coverage has exceeded 20 million viewers during the first 11 days, while preliminary data from Nielsen indicates a peak of 28.5 million viewers in a single day, marking the highest audience for any day of Olympic Winter Games coverage since 2014.
Digital consumption is driving the expansion of the Olympic audiovisual ecosystem, with 11.2 billion minutes streamed on platforms led by Peacock, an increase of 62 per cent compared with the combined total of all previous Winter Games editions. In the opening days alone, the platform recorded more than 1.3 billion minutes streamed, placing it on track to surpass the total streaming record set during Beijing 2022.
Europe surpasses Beijing 2022 across broadcast and streaming
In Europe, data from Warner Bros. Discovery, the primary Media Rights-Holder in the region, shows a 102 per cent increase in total streaming hours viewed compared with Beijing 2022, making Milano Cortina 2026 the most-watched Olympic Winter Games edition in the history of its digital platforms. Linear television audiences have also increased by 33 per cent across its network, with higher growth rates in key markets including France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
In Italy, the host nation, two out of three citizens have followed coverage of the Games, surpassing the combined consumption of the previous three Olympic Winter Games editions. In France, more than 50 million viewers have watched coverage on France Télévisions, exceeding figures recorded at the same stage of Beijing 2022 and PyeongChang 2018, and surpassing the total audience achieved during Turin 2006.
Olympic digital platforms double Beijing 2022 reach
Across the Olympic Movement’s owned digital ecosystem, the official website and mobile application have surpassed 100 million users, compared with 68 million recorded during the full duration of Beijing 2022, according to data from Olympic Broadcasting Services. On social media, official Olympic accounts have generated more than 9 billion engagements, nearly three times the 3.2 billion interactions recorded during the previous Winter Games edition.
The growth trend is also evident in individual European markets. In Spain, HBO Max recorded 945,000 hours of streaming consumption during the first week, while more than 2.4 million viewers followed coverage on Eurosport channels, representing increases of 129 per cent in audience share and 97 per cent in average audience compared with the same period of Beijing 2022. During the previous edition, a total of 2.01 billion unique viewers followed the Games globally, with 713 billion minutes consumed across broadcast platforms, figures that positioned Beijing 2022 as the most-watched Winter Games to date and that are being exceeded in growth trajectory during Milano Cortina 2026.
