Women’s sports received more coverage than men’s sports by more than a 3 to 1 margin during NBC’s primetime Paris Summer Olympic broadcast on Sunday, July 28, 2024.

Men’s sports with at least one-minute of coverage included swimming, with just over 28 minutes of airtime, as Team USA’s Nic Fink tied for the silver medal in the 100 meter breaststroke and Carson Foster won bronze in the 400 meter individual medley. Men’s basketball had a little more than 3 minutes of airtime for the U.S. victory over Serbia. NBC dedicated nearly a minute and a half to men’s tennis covering the wins by Rafael Nadal (singles) and Andy Murray (doubles) as they near the end of their careers.

Women’s sports with more than a minute of airtime included 1 hour and 48 minutes dedicated to gymnastics for team qualifications. Cycling scored more than 3 minutes due to the coverage of Haley Batten winning a silver medal, which is the U.S best finish ever in mountain biking. Women’s swimming saw almost 10 minutes of coverage as Team USA’s Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh won the gold and silver medals, respectively, in the 100 meter butterfly. Soccer had almost 2 minutes of airtime for Australia’s come from behind win over Zambia and Fencing saw just over 1 minute as Team USA’s Lee Keifer won gold in Individual Foil, repeating her Tokyo performance, while Lauren Scruggs secured the silver medal.

No mixed sex events were covered.

Overall, coverage of men’s events accounted for 21.67% of NBC’s primetime Olympic broadcast. Women’s events received 78.33% of NBC’s coverage. Mixed sex events (e.g., equestrian) received 0.00% of NBC’s coverage.

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After 3 nights, when mixed sex events are excluded, men’s events have received 39.09% of NBC’s primetime broadcast coverage compared to 60.91% for women’s events.

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Regular updates about NBC’s coverage of men’s and women’s sports on its primetime broadcast will be posted throughout the 2024 Paris Summer Games on FiveRingTV.com. Additional updates will also be posted on the @FiveRingTV X feed. A mid-Olympic report, with complete sport-by-sport coverage breakdowns, will also be issued.

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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.

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