The broadcaster streamed every event live and saw social video views exceed 4 billion – a 580% increase on Beijing 2022
Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) says the Olympic Winter Games 2026 saw its biggest streaming audience to date.
It hasn’t released specific viewing figures, but says the number of viewers streaming the Games in Europe represents a “triple-digit growth” in France, Germany, Italy (on HBO Max) and the UK (discovery+).
The broadcaster also pointed to its social video views as another measure of success. It said its social video views on its Eurosport (Europe) and TNT Sports (UK & Ireland) accounts exceeded 4 billion, which is a 580% increase on Beijing 2022.
WBD’s coverage of the Milano-Cortina 2026 games included showing every event live, peaking at 11 concurrent events, including 116 medal contests.
Around a third (32%) of viewers used WBD’s Olympics Multiview, which enabled streaming viewers to watch up to four Olympics events concurrently on a single screen with their choice of audio.
WBD also provided streamers with Gold Medal Alerts and Timeline Markers and made it possible for viewers to select from up to 21 commentary languages during the live coverage.
When it comes to linear TV views, there was a small increase (3%) in viewers compared to Beijing 2022, although the hours viewed on linear was considerable more, with WBD reporting a 50% growth in hours viewed overall compared to Beijing 2022.
Andrew Georgiou, president & managing director, WBD Sports Europe, said: “The success we witnessed in the opening days has translated into an outstanding Olympic Winter Games for Warner Bros. Discovery with substantial streaming viewership and engagement growth in addition to highly robust linear audiences.
“Watching the Olympic Games on HBO Max and discovery+ clearly resonated with audiences in the UK and Europe with three times as many people choosing to stream the Games with us compared to Beijing 2022. Viewers being able to curate their own Olympics, selecting from all 116 live events and using innovative features such as our one-screen Multiview, drove significant increases in time spent by fans watching on our streaming services. This Olympics has set an incredibly strong foundation as we look to Los Angeles 2028 and the Olympic Winter Games returning to Europe again for French Alps 2030.”
IMAGE: Getty Images
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