Women’s sports received more coverage than men’s sports during NBC’s primetime Paris Summer Olympic broadcast on Friday, August 9, 2024.

Two men’s events had at least one minute of broadcast coverage.

Men’s track and field had more than 43 and a half minutes including coverage of 4×400 meter relay heats, the 4×100 meter relay final where Canada won gold and Team USA was disqualified, and the 400-meter hurdles final where American Rai Benjamin won gold.

Men’s volleyball had more than 13 minutes of the bronze medal match were the U.S. won over Italy.

Three women’s events had at least one minute of coverage:

Women’s track and field had more than 52 and a half minutes including coverage of the 400-meter hurdle medal ceremony, the 4×400 meter relay heats, the 100-meter hurdle semifinals, and the finals in the 10,000-meter where Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet won gold, the 400-meter where the Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino set an Olympic record and won gold, the heptathlon where Belgium’s Nafissatou won her third straight gold medal, and the 4×100 meter relay where Team USA won gold.

Women’s diving had more than 18 minutes of the 3 meter springboard final where China’s Chen Yiwen won gold.

Women’s breaking had exactly one minute with coverage of B-Girl Ami from Japan winning gold and B-Girl Talash, from the Refugee Olympic Team, being disqualified for wearing a cape on the field of competition that read “Free Afghan Women.” B-Girl Talash was disqualified after having already lost a faceoff with B-Girl India from the Netherlands.

There were no mixed sex events presented.

Overall, coverage of men’s events accounted for 44.07% of NBC’s primetime Olympic broadcast. Women’s events received 55.93% of NBC’s coverage. Mixed sex events (e.g., equestrian) received 0.00% of NBC’s coverage.

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After 15 nights, when mixed sex events are excluded, men’s events have received 46.73% of NBC’s primetime broadcast coverage compared to 53.27% 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 post-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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