The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games kicked off to a solid ratings start with its opening ceremony, seeing a 34% uptick from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
The opening ceremony, which kicked off at 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET, brought in 21.4 million viewers across NBC and Peacock, according to early data from Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics.
As expected, the ceremony, which was expected to last three hours but stretched closer to three hours and 40 minutes, saw a notable uptick in viewership when compared to the opener for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, which began at 6:30 a.m. ET and aired again during primetime. Beijing’s opening ceremony brought in 16 million people across NBC and Peacock in 2022, which marked a 43% decrease from the 2018 winter games in PyeongChang, which tallied up 28.3 million viewers.
For comparison, the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony in Paris brought in 28.6 million viewers across NBC and Peacock, marking a 60% rise from the 17.9 million viewers tuning in for the previous summer Olympics’ opening ceremony during in Tokyo in 2021.
Friday’s opener was the most-streamed Winter Olympics, with the ceremony averaging more than 3 million viewers. Streaming for the Milan Cortina Olympics across NBCUniversal platforms has tallied up 700 million minutes through Friday, marking the biggest streaming audience ever for a Winter Olympics and 2.5 times greater than the 2022 Beijing Olympics through the comparable time frame.
“We are off to a strong start with Friday’s captivating Opening Ceremony highlighted by the historic cities, the scenic mountain areas, and the Parade of Athletes,” NBC Sports president Rick Cordella said in a statement. “The Opening Ceremony audience exceeded our expectations, and we can’t wait for the next two weeks of competition.”
Additionally, Friday’s episode of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” which followed primetime Opening Ceremony coverage, was the show’s most-watched telecast since Thanksgiving with 2.3 million viewers.
Friday’s opening ceremony paid homage to the culture, art and music born in Italy, down to the country’s expressive hand signals. The event featured performances from Mariah Carey, Laura Pausini, Andrea Bocelli, Pierfrancesco Favino and “The White Lotus” star Sabrina Impacciatore.
