Will Women’s Sports Dominate NBC’s Primetime Summer Olympic Broadcast Coverage Again?

Posted on by FiveRingTV

(July 21, 2024) – Women’s sports have received the majority of primetime coverage in five of the past six NBC primetime broadcasts of the Olympic Games, say James R. Angelini (University of Delaware) and Paul J. MacArthur (Utica University), co-authors of the book Olympic Television: Broadcasting the Biggest Show on Earth.

The authors will be tracking the amount of coverage men’s and women’s sports receive on NBC’s primetime broadcast of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, with regular updates posted on FiveRingTV.com and via the @FiveRingTV X feed. Angelini and MacArthur would not be surprised if women’s sports once again receive more coverage than men’s sports on NBC’s primetime Paris Olympic broadcast.

“The six-hour time difference between Paris and the United States east coast is key here,” says Angelini. “With virtually no events happening live during the primetime broadcast, NBC’s Primetime in Paris show will be highlight driven. Tracking what athletes and events gatekeepers choose to feature on the network’s most watched broadcast becomes an even more important task.”

Adds MacArthur: “Follow the Team USA medal count in marquee Olympic television sports like swimming, gymnastics, beach volleyball, and track & field. If American women win more medals than American men in sports NBC usually features on its primetime Olympic broadcast, then expect women’s sports to receive more coverage once again.”

During the previous Summer Olympiad, women’s sports received 57.95% of NBC’s Tokyo primetime broadcast coverage when mixed-sex events are excluded, compared to 42.05% for men’s sports. NBC’s Tokyo 2020(1) primetime broadcast marks the second largest airtime gap favoring women’s sports dating back to 1994 when the studies began.

The largest coverage difference favoring women’s sports occurred the following year during the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, when women’s sports received 60.05% of NBC’s primetime broadcast coverage vs. 39.95% for men’s sports after mixed-sex events are excluded.

Women’s sports also received more coverage than men’s sports during NBC’s primetime broadcasts of the London (2012) and Rio (2016) Summer Games, and the PyeongChang (2018) Winter Games.

In addition to regular updates, the authors will issue mid-Olympic and post-Olympic reports, with complete sport-by-sport coverage breakdowns. A comprehensive table providing the exact amount of time NBC dedicated to each Summer Olympic sport, with breakouts by athlete sex, during its 2020(1) Tokyo primetime Olympic broadcast is posted here.

Contact Information

Olympic Television: Broadcasting the Biggest Show on Earth contains a detailed 20-year examination of how male and female athletes have been covered within primetime Olympic broadcasts. The book also has analyses of how race/ethnicity and nationality impact Olympic coverage, interviews with NBC personnel about the content and production of Olympic broadcasts, and an overview of Olympic television history. Published by Routledge, it is available in hardcover, paperback and ebook formats at Amazon.com, the Routledge website, and other outlets.

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Method: The percentage of primetime devoted to men’s, women’s and mixed sex sports is calculated by a single researcher, utilizing a stopwatch and DVR or DVD time codes, measuring (to the millisecond) the total amount of time devoted to each event. Any time spent at the actual athletic site, on a profile about an athlete, promos about a specific athlete or sport, and host commentary about a specific sport or athlete is recorded. Split screens combining commercials and live coverage are included in the calculations, but commercial breaks are not included. The NBC broadcast network East Coast feed is used for the calculations. Olympic coverage on cable networks and live streaming are not included. Network overruns beyond 11:00pm up to the break for local news are included within the calculations.