The International Paralympic Committee -IPC-’s digital channels delivered the best results in their history during the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, to the point that in some metrics they outperformed not only Paris 2024, but the whole of 2024. Over 12 days of competition, the @Paralympics network recorded 648 million video views, 3,144 per cent more than at Beijing 2022 and more than double the 305 million reached during the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, even though that edition featured more sports and more days of competition.

The jump stood out even more inside the organisation because it came in a winter edition, traditionally smaller in reach than a summer one. IPC Chief Executive Officer Mike Peters said Milano Cortina 2026 was, “by some distance”, the most successful Winter Games in the organisation’s history for digital content and engagement, and stressed that outperforming Paris 2024 on some platforms confirms growing global interest in Paralympic sport, particularly among younger audiences. As he explained, the pre-Games strategy focused on explaining the six winter sports and introducing their leading athletes, while during competition the emphasis shifted to the best sporting moments, athlete-driven content and behind-the-scenes access.

YouTube and short-form content drive a jump that no longer looks temporary

The platform that contributed most to that growth was YouTube. Between the first day of competition, on 4 March, and the Closing Ceremony, on 15 March, the @Paralympics channel recorded 493.4 million views, with more than one million hours of content consumed by users. The IPC also highlighted the role of YouTube Shorts in that performance, pointing to a video of Canadian wheelchair curler Mark Ideson that reached 46 million views on its own. On that platform, Milano Cortina 2026 finished 860 per cent above Paris 2024 and 97.6 per cent above the whole of 2024.

The growth did not rely on just one channel. Across Meta platforms, the IPC recorded more than 303 million content impressions, including 169 million on Facebook, where there were also 44 million video views, and more than 134 million on Instagram, where video content generated more than 59 million views. TikTok added another 31.4 million views and 1.2 million engagements, remaining the largest community in the @Paralympics ecosystem with 4.7 million followers, while Douyin and Weibo came close to 21 million views, driven in large part by interest in wheelchair curling and the Chinese team.

From the 2024 record to Milano Cortina 2026: the IPC establishes a new digital scale

What happened in Milano Cortina 2026 gains even more value when placed within the IPC’s recent trend. The organisation had already closed 2024 with a record year, surpassing 1.6 billion video views across the year, 81 per cent more than in 2021, along with nearly 91 million engagements generated from more than 7,400 posts and an end-of-year total of more than 8.9 million followers across all platforms. During Paris 2024, the IPC’s channels also reached 305 million views and 16.1 million engagements, while searches related to the Paralympic Games broke the one billion mark for the first time.

That growth had already shown clear signs before Milano Cortina. In the first quarter of 2025, the IPC’s YouTube channel reached 54.5 million views, 2,625 per cent more than in the same period a year earlier, driven by the availability of more than 1,300 hours of footage from Paris 2024. In that same update, the IPC put its total social media community at around 10 million, with YouTube, TikTok and Instagram among its strongest platforms, and linked that growth to a strategy increasingly centred on short, emotional and easily shareable content.

More audience, wider global distribution and a stronger base for the road to LA28

The digital performance of Milano Cortina 2026 was also supported by a broader distribution ecosystem than any previous Winter edition. The Games were broadcast in a record 126 countries through 20 Media Rights Holders, with coverage across free-to-air television, pay TV, streaming, audio and digital platforms, while official channels guaranteed access in territories without an exclusive agreement. That global reach gave the IPC a far larger network for turning competition, stories and clips into digital consumption, in a context where the organisation also sought to reinforce the social impact of the Paralympic Movement and its ability to change perceptions of disability.

The end of the Games also left a stronger base in owned assets. After Milano Cortina 2026, the @Paralympics network moved beyond 10.2 million followers and subscribers, with an increase of more than 250,000 subscribers on YouTube, while paralympic.org went past three million visitors during competition, 43 per cent more than at Beijing 2022. These are figures that reinforce the value of Milano Cortina 2026 as a digital turning point for the IPC and that expand the movement’s starting platform for the next phase of the cycle toward LA28.