Winter Olympics 2026 Opening Ceremony Scores 21.4 Million Viewers Across NBC, Peacock, Up 34% From Beijing

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USA's flagbearer Erin Jackson leads the team to the stage during Opening Ceremony for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at the San Siro in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Fabrizio Carabelli/PA Images via Getty Images)

The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games kicked off to a solid ratings start with its opening ceremony reaching 21.4 million viewers, 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 the viewers across NBC and Peacock, according to live-plus-same-day Nielsen data and NBCUniversal internal viewing figures.

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 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.

The post Winter Olympics 2026 Opening Ceremony Scores 21.4 Million Viewers Across NBC, Peacock, Up 34% From Beijing appeared first on TheWrap.

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