Continuing the Focus on U.S. Medals: Continued Analyses of Biological Sex Representation During the 2024 and 2026 NBC Primetime Olympic Broadcasts

This report is a continued examination of the agenda that is set by the National Broadcasting Company’s (NBC’s) in its presentation of male and female athletes during the primetime telecasts of the Olympic Games, with a focus on the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games and the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games. Results are presented from content analyses examining the amount of time devoted to each sporting event and which athletes are most often mentioned during the primetime broadcasts. While continuing recent trends showing that women received more screen time in the presentation of their events at both Olympic Games, salience analyses of mentioned athletes showed different results between the Summer and Winter Games despite the competition results favoring women who competed. Specifically, during both the 2024 (52.08%) and 2026 (50.65%) Olympic broadcasts, women received the bulk of the time on camera, though the 2026 result is noteworthy as it is the smallest margin between men’s and women’s Olympic coverage to date. Salience analyses found that women were mentioned more than men during the 2024 Olympic coverage, while the opposite was true for the 2026 Games. This report concludes with a discussion of implications and a look to the future.