Canadians turned out in large numbers across all CBC/Radio-Canada platforms for the kickoff of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 on February 6th.

Some 16 million viewers in Canada tuned in to CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony on CBC and Radio-Canada networks and broadcast partners TSN, Sportsnet and RDS, with an additional 1.1 million streams on CBC/Radio-Canada’s digital platforms, including CBC Gem, ICI TOU.TV, the CBC News app (iOS / Android) and the Radio-Canada Info app (iOS / Android), and the CBC and Radio-Canada websites dedicated to the Olympic Winter Games.

CBC Milano Cortina 2026 Opening Ceremony Audience Highlights

• The Milano Cortina 2026 Opening Ceremony was the most-watched Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony in Canada since Sochi 2014.
• There were 814,000 video views of the Opening Ceremony on CBC’s digital platforms, an increase of 130 per cent compared to Beijing 2022 (354,000).
• CBC’s live afternoon broadcast of the Opening Ceremony from 2:00 p.m. to 5:38 p.m. ET and primetime encore from 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET were the 1st and 2nd most-watched programmes in Canada on February 6th among 2+ and 25-54 audiences.
• Viewership peaked at 2:56 p.m. ET when 3.1 million viewers watched Team Canada enter San Siro Stadium as part of the Parade of Athletes.

For the first time in the history of the Olympic Winter Games, the Opening Ceremony took place across two cities, with the main ceremony in the iconic Milano San Siro Olympic Stadium as well as in Cortina d’Ampezzo. The Opening Ceremony paid tribute to Italian history, art and culture and centred around the theme of ‘Armonia’ (‘Harmony’). Highlights in San Siro Stadium included pop music icon Mariah Carey performing Domenico Modugno’s Volare before singing her own hit, Nothing is Impossible, and iconic Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli delivering a performance of Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s Turandot as the Olympic flame made its way to the Milano cauldron.

CBC/Radio-Canada, Canada’s Olympic Network through 2032 and Paralympic network through 2026, is the exclusive Canadian broadcast and streaming home of the Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026, continuing through to February 22nd.

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Tags: canada, CBC, winter olympics