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

Posted on by FiveRingTV

(February 5, 2026) – Women’s sports have received the majority of primetime coverage in six of the past seven 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 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic Games, with regular updates posted on FiveRingTV.com and via the @FiveRingTV X feed and the @FiveRingTV Bluesky 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 Milan-Cortina Olympic broadcast.

“We are again facing the same six-hour time difference between the host cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo and the United States as we did for the 2024 Paris Summer Games,” says Angelini. “NBC’s primetime coverage will again be curated highlights of competitions from earlier that day, meaning NBC is again serving as chief gatekeeper for what the American viewing public will see during the most watched televised broadcasts. Tracking who and what NBC features in these Games gives insight into what NBC thinks their viewers want to see most as compared to Games where live events have been or will be the focus, such as the 2022 Beijing Winter Games or the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games.”

Adds MacArthur: “NBC’s emphasis on women’s sports during its primetime Olympic broadcast has been, in part, driven by the Team USA medal count. Team USA women have won more medals than Team USA men for several Olympiads in a row. If this trend continues, especially in popular winter events, expect to see women’s sports receive more primetime coverage.”

During the previous Winter Olympiad, women’s sports received 60.05% of NBC’s Beijing primetime broadcast coverage when mixed-sex events are excluded, compared to 39.95% for men’s sports. NBC’s Beijing 2022 primetime broadcast marks the largest airtime gap favoring women’s sports dating back to 1994 when the studies began.

Women’s sports also received more coverage than men’s sports during NBC’s primetime broadcasts of the London (2012), Rio (2016) and Tokyo (2020) and Paris (2024) 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 Winter Olympic sport, with breakouts by athlete sex, during its 2022 Beijing 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.