Women’s Sports Receive More Primetime Broadcast Olympic Coverage Than Men’s Sports For The Fifth Olympiad In A Row, Sixth Overall

(August 12, 2024) – Women’s sports received more primetime Olympic broadcast coverage than men’s sports during NBC’s broadcast of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games, according to 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.

Women’s sports received 51.12% of the coverage, while men’s sports received 47.04% of the coverage; the remainder featured mixed-sex events (1.84%).

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When mixed sex events are excluded, women’s sports received 52.08% of the coverage compared to 47.92% for men’s sports.

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The 2024 Paris Summer Games marks the fifth time in a row that women’s sports received more primetime Olympic broadcast coverage than men’s sports. Women’s sports have now received more coverage than men’s sports on NBC’s primetime broadcasts in six of the past seven Olympic Games (London, Rio, PyeongChang, Tokyo, Beijing, and Paris).

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Over the course of 17 nights, women’s sports received 1 hour and 25 minutes more coverage than men’s sports on NBC’s primetime Paris Games broadcast.

“Women’s sports have been gaining significant media traction of late,” says MacArthur. “NBC has been ahead of this curve by making women’s sport the principal element of one of its most visible and valuable properties. The primetime Olympic broadcast continues to be the biggest stage for women’s sports.”

The trend towards increased primetime coverage of women’s sport is likely influenced, in part, by the success of American women at the Olympic Games. Women won a majority of Team USA’s medals during the Paris Games and a majority of its gold medals.

The difference in airtime largely came down to gymnastics. Team USA women won more medals in gymnastics than Team USA men. They also won gold medals, while Team USA men did not. Women’s gymnastics coverage outpaced men’s gymnastics coverage by more than 3 hours and 28 minutes during NBC’s primetime Paris Olympic broadcast.

The margin of difference between men’s and women’s sports in 2024, however, is much narrower than the three previous Summer Games where women had a majority of the primetime broadcast coverage. This may be due to the unexpected disappearance of beach volleyball, which had been a primetime staple since the 2004 Athens Summer Games.

Women’s beach volleyball received more than of 12 hours and 44 minutes of primetime coverage across the London, Rio and Tokyo Summer Games. During that same time frame, men’s beach volleyball received just over 1 hour and 12 minutes of primetime coverage.  

“In 2024, the total coverage of men’s and women’s beach volleyball combined did not even reach four minutes,” says Angelini. “The lack of beach volleyball, likely due to American teams failing to reach the medal rounds, narrowed the overall coverage gap.”

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Studies examining the amount of time Olympic primetime broadcasts dedicate to men’s and women’s sports began in 1994. The widest margin in favor of women’s sports occurred during the 2022 Beijing Winter Games as women’s sports received 60.5% of the NBC’s primetime coverage compared to 39.5% for men’s sports, when mixed sex events are excluded. The largest gap favoring men’s sports took place during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games when men’s sports received 64.7% of NBC’s primetime coverage compared to 35.3% for women’s sports, when mixed sex sports are excluded.

A complete table providing the exact amount of time NBC devoted to each sport, with breakouts by athlete sex, during its primetime Paris Summer Olympic broadcast is posted here.

Night by night breakouts for all 17 days of the Paris Games are also posted throughout FiveRingTV.com.  

Additional commentary about NBC’s primetime Olympic broadcasts is posted on the @FiveRingTV Twitter feed.

Contact Information

• James R. Angelini: angelini@udel.edu, (302) 831-7210
• Paul J. MacArthur: FiveRingTV@gmail.com, (315) 733-5185, @FiveRingTV

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.