People watched. A lot of people. The men’s hockey gold medal game between the USA and Canada pulled in 20.7 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, and USA Network, with an average live audience of 18.6 million on NBC and Peacock during the 8:15 to 11 a.m. ET window.
As Jack Hughes scored the overtime winner, the broadcast peaked at 26 million viewers. That’s a lot of people watching a hockey game on a Sunday morning.
JACK HUGHES DELIVERS AMERICA'S GOLDEN MOMENT IN OVERTIME. pic.twitter.com/4foFDOri53
It’s the second-most watched hockey game ever on NBC, trailing only the 2010 gold medal game between the same two countries, which Canada won in overtime and drew 27.6 million viewers.
The fact that this one came close to that number, airing on a Sunday morning while most of the country was presumably supposed to be doing something else, says everything about how much this team captured the country.
The women’s side deserves just as much attention here. The USA women’s 2-1 overtime gold medal win over Canada on Thursday drew 5.3 million viewers on USA Network and Peacock, peaking at 7.7 million in overtime before Megan Keller’s winner.
Per NBC, it was the most-watched women’s hockey game ever recorded. That’s a record that should be celebrated.
Zoom out and the whole picture looks great for the Milan Cortina Games. NBC averaged 23.5 million viewers across the Olympics as Team USA set a national record with 12 gold medals.
All 15 days of the Games topped 20 million viewers. That kind of consistent performance made it the most-watched Winter Olympics since 2014, a massive jump over the 2022 numbers.
Winning helps. Winning in overtime helps more. Team USA delivered both repeatedly over two weeks, and the country showed up to watch. Good stuff all around.
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