Though the 2022 Games officially opened with a ceremony at Beijing National Stadium on February 4, broadcast coverage began a day earlier with a peak average of 10.4 million viewers tuning in to watch figure skating and freestyle skiing. The opening ceremony drew an average as high as 11.66 million, and the first Saturday in primetime topped out at 12.37 million viewers.
February 3rd (8pm-12am)
Figure skating
Women's freestyle skiing
Men's freestyle skiing
February 4th (8pm-11pm)
Opening ceremony
February 5th (8pm-11:30pm)
Figure skating
Men's alpine skiing
Short track
After earning Bronze in the first two Olympic figure skating team events in Sochi and PyeongChang, Team USA made the jump to silver with sensational performances from Nathan Chen, Karen Chen, and the rest of the squad. A peak average of 14.04 million watched the event on NBC on February 6.
February 6th (7pm-11:30pm)
Figure skating
Women's alpine skiing
Women's freestyle skiing
Men's luge
February 7th (8pm-12:30pm)
Men's figure skating
Men's alpine skiing
Women's freestyle skiing
Women's short track
Women's speed skating
February 8th (8pm-11pm)
Women's alpine skiing
Women's snowboard
Men's freestyle skiing
Men's speed skating
In his fifth and final Games, Shaun White narrowly missed the medal podium by finishing fourth in men’s snowboard halfpipe. Nevertheless, he still captivated Americans’ attention, as an average of 14.66 million people – the highest peak during Beijing 2022’s opening week – watched him compete one last time on the world’s grandest stage.
February 9th (8pm-12:30am)
Women's snowboard
Men's figure skating
Men's alpine skiing
Men's short track
February 10th (8pm-11pm)
Women's snowboard
Men's snowboard
February 11th (8pm-11pm)
Snowboard
Women's alpine skiing
Men's short track
Men's skeleton
Men's ski jumping
NBC double-dipped on February 13 with a slate including Super Bowl LVI and the second Sunday of the Olympics. With carryover viewers after the Rams accepted their Lombardi Trophy, NBC’s average audience for Olympics coverage reached a high of 26.46 million during the condensed window.
February 12th (8pm-11pm)
Men's alpine skiing
Women's monobob
Figure skating
Women's skeleton
February 13th (10:45pm-12am
Women's monobob
Figure skating
Women's speed skating
February 14th (8pm-11:30pm)
Women's alpine skiing
Women's freestyle skiing
Two-man bobsled
Among the most controversial and compelling competitions of Beijing 2022 was the women’s figure skating event. Storylines abounded as top contender Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee stirred controversy following a positive doping test. After the Court of Arbitration for Sport allowed Valieva to compete, a peak average of 13.29 million viewers watched her ultimately finish fourth on February 17.
February 15th (8pm-11:30pm)
Men's freestyle skiing
Women's figure skating
Two-man bobsled
February 16th (8pm-10:30pm)
Women's alpine skiing
Freestyle skiing
Women's short track
February 17th (8pm-11:30pm)
Women's freestyle skiing
Women's figure skating
Women's speed skating
Interest in the Winter Games waned as the fortnight drew to a close, with each of the final three primetime broadcasts peaking at fewer than 11 million viewers. Saturday’s coverage reached a high of 10.18 million, while the closing ceremony drew the lowest peak of any telecast throughout the Games at 9.12 million.
February 18th (8pm-11pm)
Men's freestyle skiing
Figure skating
Two-man bobsled
February 19th (8pm-11pm)
Four-man bobsled
Two-women bobsled
Figure skating
February 20th (8pm-10:30pm)
Closing ceremony
The most-watched block of the Beijing Games received a significant boost thanks to the program that preceded it. A multitude of sports fans across the U.S. spent the afternoon of February 13 fixated on Super Bowl LVI. Its broadcast served as a perfect precursor to Olympics coverage, which featured the debut of women’s monobob.
Post-Super Bowl Olympics coverage drew more viewers than any other 2022 Winter Games broadcast on NBC. An average of 25.73 million fans witnessed consecutive instances of Olympics history as women’s monobob made its initial appearance at the Games and Erin Jackson became the first Black woman to win Gold in speed skating.
As Jackson was speeding past her rivals at the rink, NBC was enjoying viewership numbers that far outpaced every other night of competition. The average audience for the network’s shortened window of coverage was 2.21x higher than the 11.62 million it earned across all other primetime broadcasts during Beijing 2022.
While the boosted viewership numbers in the wake of Super Bowl LVI were evident, the crossover effect was far from universal. An average of 71.16 million households watched the NFL’s title game, with 63.8% of those shunning the winter sports coverage that followed.
When halfpipe hero Shaun White carved powder at the bottom of the hill on February 10th, his Olympic career was complete. White would ultimately finish fourth in the men’s snowboard halfpipe final at Beijing 2022, but his name resounded online much more voluminously than those of the event’s medal winners. We examined U.S.-based tweets spanning February 10th and 11th to highlight White's social significance.
Swiss Jan Scherrer received little fanfare following his first Olympic medal in three appearances. Though the official Olympics account recognized his achievement on Twitter, it was one of only eight original tweets marking the achievement during the event’s coverage on NBC.
Scotty James of Australia bested his Bronze medal from PyeongChang 2018 by finishing second in the men’s halfpipe last month in Beijing. Fans across the U.S. mentioned the Melbourne native in 108 original tweets during the 9 p.m. EST hour on February 10.
After earning Silver in each of the previous two Winter Games, Ayumu Hirano finally achieved his crowning Olympic moment. Although Hirano completed a trick that had never been landed in the Olympics during his penultimate trip down the halfpipe, he still sat in second place with one run remaining. Social discussions referencing the perceived slight were among the 996 original tweets about Hirano during the event’s final hour. But he nailed an epic run at the end to put the controversy to rest and win his first Olympic Gold.
Shaun White is the most decorated men’s snowboarder in Olympic history, but it was his fourth-place finish that will leave a lasting impression on fans who have followed his journey for nearly two decades. The American may have come up just short in his bid for one more medal, but his impact was palpable to those watching, and it resulted in 3,571 original tweets during concluding coverage of his last event.
The popularity gap was even more pronounced when including all tweets. By adding retweets, quote tweets, and replies to the originals citing each of the top four finishers, MVP found Shaun White was mentioned 9,638 times on Twitter during NBC’s coverage of the event final – more than all three of his counterparts combined, and 3.58x more times than the Gold Medal-winning Hirano.
Shaun White’s last Olympic appearance resulted in Twitter mentions from 27,370 unique users creating more than 1.27 billion impressions during the 48 hours beginning at 12 a.m. EST on the day of the event final.
MVP’s heat map below highlights the most popular events among each of the United States’ 210 designated market areas. An overwhelming portion of the country favored snowboarding, though Utahns yearned for the flair of freestyle skiing and fans in the Twin Cities coveted speed on ice. We encourage you to hover over your region to learn what drew the interest of your community.
