MILAN, February 9, 2026 — The opening weekend of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics captivated a massive audience, with 28.5 million viewers tuning in across NBC, Peacock, NBCUniversal’s digital platforms, and Versant’s linear networks on Saturday, February 7th—marking the most-watched Winter Olympics broadcast in 12 years.
Olympic Viewership Soars, Six Nations Draws Record Crowds
The Winter Games and rugby’s Six Nations tournament are delivering strong numbers for broadcasters across Europe and North America.
- The opening Saturday of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics averaged 28.5 million viewers, the highest for a Winter Olympics broadcast in 12 years.
- Viewership for the opening ceremony of the Games increased by 34 percent compared to the Beijing 2022 opening ceremony.
- France’s Six Nations opener against Ireland drew a record 7.24 million French viewers.
- England’s Six Nations match against Wales peaked at five million viewers for ITV, the network’s highest peak audience of the year.
The February 7th action, featuring the US women’s ice hockey team and figure skating stars Ilia Malinin and Madison Chock, saw a 92 percent increase in viewership compared to the opening Saturday of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Streaming numbers were also impressive, with an average of 4.1 million viewers and a record 1.3 billion minutes streamed on NBCUniversal’s digital platforms that day.
The opening ceremony on February 6th averaged 21.4 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, a 34 percent increase from the Beijing 2022 opening ceremony. However, it fell short of the 28.3 million viewers who watched the PyeongChang 2018 opening ceremony on NBC. This year’s ceremony was the most-streamed Winter Olympics opening ceremony ever, averaging over three million viewers on Peacock.
International audiences also tuned in. France Televisions averaged six million viewers for the opening ceremony, representing a 38.8 percent audience share, with a peak of 7.6 million and a reach of 15.2 million French fans. More than 20 million French viewers watched Winter Olympics coverage on February 6th. In Italy, 9.3 million viewers watched the opening ceremony on Rai, capturing a 46.2 percent audience share. Across CBC/Radio-Canada platforms in Canada, 16 million viewers tuned in, with a linear broadcast average of 2.5 million and an additional 1.1 million streams.
Six Nations Delivers for ITV and France Televisions
The opening weekend of the Six Nations rugby tournament also saw strong viewership numbers. The tournament kicked off on February 5th with France’s win over Ireland, drawing an average of 7.24 million French viewers on France Televisions—a record for the first match of the Six Nations, representing a 39 percent audience share. This was an 8.5 percent increase compared to last year’s opener.
In England, ITV averaged 4.6 million viewers across its linear and digital channels for England’s win against Wales on February 7th. The game peaked at five million viewers, marking ITV’s highest peak audience of the year, surpassing the 3.8 million who watched France’s win over Ireland.
Other Sports Viewership Highlights:
- The new league phase of the Uefa Women’s Champions League (UWCL) has seen a 164 percent increase in live viewership across the first six matchdays.
- National Hockey League (NHL) games on ESPN have averaged 795,000 viewers, up 39 percent year-over-year, before pausing for the Winter Olympics. The Stadium Series clash on February 1st averaged 2.1 million viewers, becoming the most-watched NHL regular season game ever on cable.
- ESPN’s coverage of the Australian Open was its most-watched in six years, with viewership up 29 percent year-over-year. The men’s singles final, won by Carlos Alcaraz, averaged 730,000 viewers, while Elena Rybakina’s women’s singles final win averaged 487,000 viewers.
- In Australia, the Australian Open reached over 14.31 million viewers, up 9.3 percent year-over-year. Alcaraz’s win averaged 3.45 million viewers, up 67 percent year-over-year, and Rybakina’s triumph averaged 2.14 million viewers, a 1 percent year-over-year increase.
- NBC’s debut of Sunday Night Basketball on February 1st delivered an average audience of 3.6 million, with an additional 900,000 viewers on Telemundo and Peacock.
- As of January 26th, three-on-three basketball league Unrivaled was averaging 103,000 viewers across TNT and truTV, down 44 percent year-over-year.
- Indoor golf league TGL was averaging 551,000 viewers after six games, down 37 percent year-over-year.
- League One Volleyball (LOVB) is averaging 108,000 viewers as of February 4th, up 46 percent year-over-year.
- The National Football League’s (NFL) Pro Bowl Games averaged an all-time low of two million viewers on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and Disney XD, a 57 percent year-over-year decline.
