The Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, which took place on Friday, attracted 28.6 million viewers on NBCUniversal platforms, making it the highest watched opening ceremony for a summer Olympics since London in 2012.
“NBC Sports President Rick Cordella said that last night’s Opening Ceremony, one of the most elaborate and complex in Olympic history, was a spectacle for those in attendance in Paris, delivered a huge audience across our NBCU platforms, and set records for Peacock.” We are off to a great start that is in line with the expectations of our NBC stations, distribution and advertising partners, and ourselves thanks to the relentless work of our engineering and production teams as well as considerable promotion. As we anticipate the following two weeks of competition, we are in a wonderful position.
The Opening Ceremony featured appearances and performances by some of the biggest names in popular culture, in addition to the many incredible, well-known athletes on Team USA, including LeBron James and Coco Gauff, Simone Biles, Sha’Carri Richardson, Noah Lyles, Stephen Curry, Katie Ledecky, and Caeleb Dressel, who are among the athletes who will compete in the games over the next two weeks and traveled down the Seine River on Friday.
Mike Tirico was joined by American Idol season one champion and three-time Grammy Award winner Kelly Clarkson, as well as Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning, to cover the Opening Ceremony. For God knows why, Snoop Dogg temporarily carried the Olympic Torch. The opening musical act of the Olympics was delivered by Lady Gaga, and Celine Dion gave a powerful performance from the top of the Eiffel Tower to finish the ceremony.
It would be interesting to watch if NBCU and Peacock break viewership records when the Summer Games return to Los Angeles in 2028. Since Atlanta hosted the Olympics back in 1996, this will be the first time the United States has hosted the Summer Olympics.
With NBC and the streaming service Peacock included, the audience figure is a huge increase for the broadcaster as opposed to the mere 17 million viewers for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The overall number of viewers for the Olympics in Beijing and Tokyo in 2022 was greatly reduced by unfavorable time zones for the US population and an ongoing global epidemic.
Additionally, NBCUniversal is considering using AI into their programming, which might involve bringing back the voice of renowned sportscaster Al Michaels. It’s a creative way to improve the viewing experience while maintaining high levels of audience engagement throughout the whole broadcast.
The Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony’s record viewership signaled a suitable start for NBCUniversal’s worldwide reach and its efforts to rekindle interest in the Olympics. With such a strong start, the network should feel more confident about its substantial investment and future plan for the Games.