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EBU Members draw significant audiences for Winter Olympics

February 16, 2026

European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Member broadcasters are delivering the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games to mass audiences across Europe, with strong viewership figures reported during the opening days of competition, which started on February 6th..

RAI recorded a peak audience of 4.9 million for its early alpine skiing coverage as Italy’s Sofia Goggia secured bronze in the women’s downhill. This compares with a peak of 712k for the same event during Beijing 2022, reflecting a significantly broader reach achieved through the host broadcaster’s free-to-air coverage of Milano Cortina 2026.

In Sweden, SVT has achieved a total cross-platform reach of 6 million viewers for Milano Cortina 2026 as of 10 February, representing around 60 per cent of the Swedish population. Mixed curling has emerged as the standout event so far, with the gold medal-winning performance of the Wranaa siblings attracting a total reach of approximately 3 million viewers for the final. These figures reflect strong national engagement as Olympic coverage returns to SVT after a 14-year interval.

Swiss public broadcasters RTS, RSI and SRF recorded a combined average audience of over 1 million viewers for both the men’s downhill race, which attracted 1.2 million viewers, and the women’s downhill race, which drew 1.1 million. More broadly, during the first six days of the Games, the broadcasters reached more than 3.4 million people with their Winter Olympics television coverage.

NPO 1 averaged 3.96 million viewers for Jutta Leerdam’s gold medal performance in the women’s 1,000 metre speed skating, marking one of the highest audiences for any programme on Dutch television in more than three years.

In Germany, ARD and ZDF are delivering more than 200 hours of live coverage across their main linear channels, complemented by around 700 hours each of livestream content on their digital platforms. ZDF’s live broadcasts are averaging 3.3 million viewers, with a 25.3 per cent market share, while peak performances include 6.6 million viewers for luge and 6.5 million for biathlon mixed relay, the latter achieving an exceptional 45.3 per cent market share.

Some 43 million viewers have watched at least one minute of Milano Cortina 2026 coverage on France Télévisions, 10 million more than at the same stage of both the Beijing 2022 and PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games and the highest level recorded since 2006. Since the start of the Games, viewers have watched more than three hours of coverage on average, double the level recorded after six days of competition in 2022.

In Austria, ORF recorded peak audiences of up to 1.27 million viewers for the women’s downhill, delivering a 69 per cent market share and the most-watched women’s Olympic downhill since 2010. The women’s Big Air final attracted a peak of 914k viewers, the highest audience for an Olympic snowboarding event on ORF since 2014.

In Norway, the nation currently topping the medals table, total viewership across NRK1 for Milano Cortina 2026 stands at just under 5.4 million, representing an increase of approximately 44 per cent compared with Beijing 2022. This uplift follows NRK’s return to free-to-air Olympic coverage after 14 years, reinforcing the impact of public service media distribution.

In Finland, Yle delivered a strong performance during the opening week. Finland’s first men’s ice hockey match achieved the highest reach at 2.2 million viewers. In a country of just 5.6 million people, cumulative reach on television has already climbed to 3.78 million, placing performance well ahead of Paris 2024 at the same stage.

The BBC’s multi-platform coverage of the Winter Olympic Games has delivered noteworthy reach and engagement across digital platforms and television output. More than 20 million viewers have tuned in to the BBC’s TV coverage to date, with peak audiences reaching 3.6 million for the most-watched moments.

In Czechia, Česká Televize set new viewing records for biathlon coverage. The mixed relay attracted 1.7 million viewers, surpassing the previous Olympic record of 1.25 million set during PyeongChang 2018. Overall, viewing figures have tripled compared with the last Winter Olympic Games.

Additional highlights include:

  • Up to 833k viewers tuned in to ORF for the mixed team ski jumping competition, one of the strongest performing events of the opening week.
  • NRK1 recorded peak audiences of 899k viewers for the biathlon mixed relay and the men’s 20km skiathlon in cross-country skiing, both with 90 per cent market share.
  • Yle’s digital platforms generated 267 million minutes of consumption during the opening phase of the Games, including nearly 55 million minutes on Day 5 alone, marking the highest single-day digital consumption ever recorded by the Finnish broadcaster.
  • SVT Play, SVT’s streaming service, has reached an audience of 2.1 million during the Games so far.
  • The BBC’s social media content has generated over 100 million views, while 17 million people have visited the dedicated Winter Olympic Games page on the BBC Sport website.
  • France Télévisions’ recently launched streaming platform, france.tv, has recorded 21 million video views for the Olympic Games to date, already surpassing the total achieved across the entire duration of the 2022 and 2018 Winter Games.
  • Since the start of the Olympics, Česká Televize have recorded nearly 13 million live streams, while video-on-demand content has also reached a record one million views.
  • The most-watched competition broadcast on ZDF to date has been sportstudio live-Olympia: Singles (Luge), attracting over 6.5 million viewers and a 30.5 per cent market share.

Andreas Aristodemou, Director of Olympics, EBU said: “The opening week of Milano Cortina 2026 has delivered outstanding sporting moments that are clearly resonating with audiences across Europe. These early figures demonstrate the enduring appeal of the Olympic Winter Games and highlight the unmatched reach of public service media in bringing these global events to viewers across Europe.”

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