According to Nielsen, it is the most-watched sporting event on record in U.S. history with a start time before 9 a.m. Eastern time.
It is NBC’s second-most-watched hockey game. Canada’s OT win over the U.S. in the gold medal game at the 2010 Vancouver Games averaged 27.6 million. That game had a 3:15 p.m. EST puck drop.
The North American audience when Hughes scored the golden goal was nearly 35 million. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said on Monday that 8.7 million were watching in Canada during overtime.
The Milan-Cortina Olympics averaged 23.5 million viewers in the United States, making them the most-watched Winter Games since 2014 and drawing a 96% larger audience than the 2022 Beijing Games.
NBCUniversal said the average includes combined audiences on NBC, Peacock, CNBC, USA Network and other digital platforms. It covered the live afternoon (2-5 p.m. EST) and prime-time (8-11 p.m. EST/PST) windows.
The gold medal game in women's hockey on Feb. 19 — when Team USA beat Canada 2-1 in overtime — averaged 5.3 million on USA Network and Peacock. The audience peaked at 7.7 million during Megan Keller’s golden goal.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics