NBCUniversal closed its Milan Cortina Winter Olympics coverage with a massive audience Sunday morning, as Team USA’s 2-1 overtime win against Canada in the men’s hockey gold medal game delivered one of the most-watched early start sporting events in American television history.
According to Nielsen Big Data + Panel figures and Adobe Analytics digital data, 20.7 million average viewers tuned in across NBC, Peacock and USA Network for the dramatic finish, with the audience peaking at 26.0 million on NBC and Peacock at 10:52 a.m. ET when Jack Hughes buried the game-winner in overtime.
The window between 10:45 and 11 a.m. ET averaged 26.0 million viewers as play-by-play voice Kenny Albert delivered the decisive call that secured the United States’ first Olympic men’s hockey gold medal since 1980.
Across NBC and Peacock alone, the 8:15-11 a.m. ET broadcast averaged 18.6 million viewers, setting a record as the most-watched sporting event ever to begin before 9 a.m. ET in the United States.
In addition, the matchup now stands as NBC Sports’ second most-watched hockey telecast of all time, trailing only the USA-Canada gold medal game at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, which drew 27.6 million viewers with a mid-afternoon puck drop that proved more favorable for domestic audiences.
Streaming once again played a significant role in the overall delivery, as NBC Sports recorded its largest hockey streaming audience on record outside of NFL coverage. Peacock led the way with an average streaming audience of 3.7 million viewers, underscoring the platform’s continued growth as a primary Olympic distribution outlet and reinforcing NBCUniversal’s multiplatform strategy for premium live sports.
NBC Sports President Rick Cordella called the gold medal showdown a fitting exclamation point to what the company branded as its “Legendary February,” a stretch that also included coverage of the Super Bowl and the NBA All-Star Game.
Cordella praised the athletes and organizers while highlighting the internal effort required to deliver 17 days of Olympic competition to more than 215 million Americans across NBCUniversal’s portfolio.
The network also extended the momentum beyond the live window, as NBCUniversal quickly made the full replay available on Peacock, scheduled an encore presentation on USA Network later Sunday afternoon, and aired a condensed two-hour version on NBC stations following late local news.
Those additional telecasts combined to reach another 2.1 million viewers, adding to the game’s already historic footprint.
With media rights to the Olympic Games secured in the United States through 2036, NBCUniversal will next turn its focus to the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles while preparing for future Winter Games stops in the French Alps and Utah.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
