2024 Paris Olympics sets record with 17 billion streaming minutes on Peacock, NBC

There hasn’t been a shortage of excitement in Paris as the 2024 Olympics continue. The United States took the lead in gold medals on Tuesday after multiple impressive performances, and NBC is also seeing success of its own.

The network, along with its Peacock streaming service, hit 17 billion streaming minutes this week. That’s more than all previous Olympics, which combined for 16.8 billion minutes across the summer and winter games. It’s also almost four times the entire streaming run for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

TV ratings are also on an upward trajectory for NBCUniversal. Monday brought in an average of 29.1 million viewers on NBC, Peacock and other platforms. In total, the 11-day average for the 2024 Tokyo Olympics is 32.6 million – a nearly 80% increase from the Tokyo Olympics.

This year, Peacock is streaming every event live, including all 329 medal events, and offering on-demand versions. There are also video clips and more original programs, including a new live show that’s helping fuel Peacock’s success.

‘Gold Zone’ takes viewers around 2024 Paris Olympics

The 2024 Paris Olympics saw the debut of NBC’s “Gold Zone” program, hosted by NFL RedZone’s Scott Hanson and former RedZone host Andrew Siciliano. The whiparound program shows every gold medal as it happens, with the two hosts taking turns – even working a shift together for the first time earlier this week.

Hanson has built a strong following with his seven hours of commercial-free football during the NFL season, but is taking on a new journey in the Olympics. He admitted he wasn’t sure about the idea at first during a conversation with the Boston Globe, but is riding the wave through 11 days of coverage.

“We’re not watching one thing, we’re watching all things, so you can see the best things,” Hanson said. “We could be going, ‘Hey we’ve got this gold-medal match in fencing,’ but suddenly a surfer gets a 22-foot wave in Tahiti that we absolutely want to show people because the visual is outstanding. Well, we didn’t know that was going to happen, but when it happens, how nimble can we be to get those types of amazing moments on the air as quickly as possible?

“Listen, we know there are very few American sports fans who readily hand over their remote control to a stranger in the living room. Hopefully, we’ve established that trust with our audience so far, and hopefully I’ve established trust on Red Zone, that if you give us the remote control in Gold Zone, you know you’re in good hands.”

U.S. takes gold medal lead from China

Tuesday was another impressive day for the United States, and it marked a milestone. It moved past China for the most gold medals in the updated medal count.

The U.S. also continues to hold the overall medal count lead, now with 86 total medals. China now the closest with 59, followed by host country France with 48.

Gabby Thomas put together an electric performance in the 200-meter dash to bring home the gold medal, while teammate Brittany Brown finished third to win bronze. That came after a thrilling finish to the 1,500-meter run in which Cole Hocker surged down the last 100 meters to move into first place and seal a gold of his own.

Amit Elor also made history for the on Tuesday on the wrestling mat. The 20-year-old won the gold medal in the event, becoming the youngest in U.S. history to do so with a 3-0 victory over Krgykstan’s Meerim Zhumanazarova. That continued her undefeated streak in international play, and also put her name in the history books.