Women’s sports received more airtime than men’s sports during NBC’s primetime Olympic broadcast on Tuesday, February 17, 2026.

Three men’s events had more than one minute of coverage. 

Men’s Speed Skating had more than 19 and a half minutes of the team pursuit semifinals and the final where Team USA won silver. Italy and China won gold and bronze, respectively. 

Men’s Freestyle Skiing had more than 19 and a half minutes covering the big air final where Team USA’s Mac Forehand won silver. Norway’s Tormod Frostad and Austria’s Matěj Švancer won gold and bronze, respectively. 

Men’s Ice Hockey had more than 1 minute of airtime for highlights of Sweden’s win over Latvia and a preview of the tournament quarterfinals.

Two women’s event received more than one minute of airtime.

Women’s Figure Skating had more than 1 hour and 15 minutes of airtime for the short program, a segment where the three American skaters read letters from their parents, and a profile of Team USA’s Amber Glenn.

Women’s Alpine Skiing had more than 2 and a half minutes of coverage for promos for the slalom event and footage of Mikaela Shiffrin from the 2022 Winter Games during a conversation she had with Simone Biles. 

No mixed events had more than one minute of coverage. 

Overall, coverage of men’s events accounted for 34.57% of NBC’s primetime Olympic broadcast. Women’s events received 65.39% of the coverage. Mixed sex events (e.g., ice dancing) received 0.04% of NBC’s coverage.

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When mixed sex events are excluded, men’s sports received 34.58% of NBC’s coverage compared to 65.42% for women’s sports.

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Regular updates about NBC’s primetime coverage of men’s and women’s sports will be posted throughout the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games on FiveRingTV.com. Updates are also be posted on the @FiveRingTV X feed and the @FiveRingTV Bluesky 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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