NBC Boasts 20% Jump on Viewership for 2024 Olympic Swimming Trials on Early Returns

2024 U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS

• June 15-23, 2024
• Lucas Oil Stadium — Indianapolis, IN
• LCM (50 Meters)
• Session Start Times (ET):
  • 11 a.m. Prelims
  • 7:45 p.m. Finals (varying based on broadcast needs)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam’s Definitive Guide to Trials
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• SwimSwam Pick ’em Contest
• Prelims Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6
• Finals Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6
• Final Live Stream

NBC is promoting an average of 3.2 million primetime viewers on NBC and Peacock for this week’s US Olympic Swimming Trials – an increase of approximately 20% from 2021, when much of the country was stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The data is based on Nielsen and Adobe numbers reported from the first four days of competition and comparing to the entirety of the 2021 Trials – though SwimSwam’s web traffic and 2021 ratings patterns indicate that interest tapers off a bit later in the meet before peaking on the final night when the Olympic team is named.

NBC reports that the first two days of the diving trials have averaged 2.9 million viewers in primetime, which is an increase of 39% from the overall 2021 Trials average.

The attention being garnered from putting the meet in a football stadium is a likely contributing factor to the increases, along with a later time zone that has finals starting after work hours across the country. A lackluster NBA Finals (viewership down 3% from 2023) has likely also freed up some eyeballs to watch swimming instead, though ratings for the NHL Stanley Cup finals are up versus 2023.

The elevated television ratings accompany record crowds that have twice broken 20,000 (though it’s unclear if that is tickets sold or the number of bodies through the door). 22,209 fans were at Lucas Oil on Wednesday, where event sponsor Lilly brought a big contingent of employees to contribute to what is believed to be the largest-ever crowd to attend a swim meet.