Olympic rings are seen on the Eiffel Tower near the restored statue of "Cavalier Arabe" (Arab rider) ... [+]
Despite the controversy surrounding USA Basketball's decision to exclude potential WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark from the 2024 Olympic roster, historical trends suggest that overall Olympic viewership will remain strong. Past data and recent US trial events indicate that the Games will still attract large audiences. While NCAA Women’s Basketball and the WNBA have seen significant viewership spikes recently, the Summer Olympics consistently deliver record-breaking numbers, and the 2024 Games will see similar trends.
More than 3 billion people worldwide tuned in to watch the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (which were held in 2021 due to Covid-19 complications) across linear TV and digital platforms. Olympic broadcast partners' digital platforms saw 28 billion video views, a 139% increase compared to the Rio 2016 Games. These increases not only depict a shifting media landscape in preparation for Paris 2024, they also highlight Tokyo 2020 as the first streaming Olympics and the most watched on digital platforms.
Importantly, for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, women's sports accounted for 57.55% of NBC's primetime broadcasts, while men's sports made up the remaining 41.75%. Women’s sports receiving more media coverage during the Olympics is not new. Over the past eight years, four out of five Olympic Games have featured more women’s sporting events than men’s on NBC’s evening broadcasts. Given the Tokyo 2020 Olympics marked the largest margin to date, we can expect similar coverage trends during the 2024 games.
Primetime Olympic Athlete Coverage:
- Tokyo (2020): Men (42.05%), Women (57.95%)
- London (2012): Men (45.2%), Women (54.8%)
- Rio (2016): Men (46.3%), Women (53.7%)
- PyeongChang (2018): Men (47.8%), Women (52.2%)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - JUNE 30: Simone Biles competes on the balance beam on Day Four of the 2024 ... [+]
Olympic Trial Viewership Numbers
Trends for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trial events similarly suggest high viewership numbers for the 2024 Olympic Games. Across events such as gymnastics, swimming, and track and field, NBC saw increases from their 2021 coverage, with women athletes leading the way. An average of 7.6 million viewers (which peaked at 8.2 million) across NBC and Peacock tuned in to watch Simone Biles qualify for her third Olympic gymnastics team, making it the most-watched trials since 2016.
EUGENE, OREGON - JUNE 30: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone crosses the finish line to win and set a new ... [+]
In track and field, an average of 4.5 million viewers (a 38% increase from 2021) tuned in to witness Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone set a new world record in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 50.65 seconds. For the U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials, an average of 20,000 fans attended live, while roughly 3.2 million tuned in on linear and digital platforms.
Beyond the 2024 Olympic Trials, previous women’s Olympic events have drawn significant viewership numbers. In the Rio 2016 Olympics, the U.S. Women's Soccer Team’s opening match against New Zealand garnered nearly 25 million viewers across various platforms, illustrating the substantial interest in their games. Despite Caitlin Clark's absence from the 2024 Olympic Games, other superstar women athletes are poised to attract substantial viewership, maintaining the trend of the Olympics as a premier platform for women's sports.
