Record-Breaking Viewership for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games
This month, CBC revealed that a staggering 30.5 million Canadians tuned in to watch the 2026 Olympic Winter Games held in Milano Cortina. As Canada’s long-standing official broadcaster for the Olympics, CBC reported that this extraordinary audience engaged through its English adn French television channels, along with broadcast partners like TSN, Sportsnet, and RDS.
In addition to traditional viewing methods, CBC highlighted that its digital coverage achieved over 89 million streams across various platforms including CBC Gem and ICI TOU.TV. The numbers also reflect significant engagement on the CBC News app and Radio-Canada Info apps as well as dedicated websites. This digital viewership is more than three times higher than what was recorded during the Beijing 2022 Olympics.
The Moast-Watched moments of Milano cortina
CBC shared insights into the top ten most-viewed moments from this year’s games.Unsurprisingly, hockey dominated these highlights. The standout moment came when Jack Hughes of Team USA scored an overtime goal against Team Canada in the men’s hockey final—an event that drew an audience of 8.7 million viewers.
- 8.7 million viewers witnessed Jack Hughes score in overtime to secure gold for Team USA against Canada in men’s hockey (Day 16 — Sunday, February 22 at 10:52 a.m. ET).
- 5.1 million viewers where glued to their screens during the last minute of Canada's semi-final match against Finland (Day 14 — Friday,February 20 at 1:11 p.m. ET).
- 4.4 million watched as Canada clinched victory over Czechia with a final goal in overtime during their quarterfinal match (Day 12 – Wednesday, February 18 at 1:12 p.m.).
- A replay of a fight from the third period between Canada and France attracted an audience of about 4.23 million (Day9 – Sunday, February15 at12:56 p.m.).
- the thrilling conclusion of women’s hockey gold medal game between Canada and USA captivated around4 .22million viewers (Day13 – ThursdayFebruary19at3 :52p.m.).
- The Opening Ceremony saw3 .5million people watching Canadian athletes enter thestadium(Day0–FridayFebruary6at2 :56p.m.).
- A women’s hockey game featuringCanada versus Switzerland drew3 .2millionviewers(Day10–MondayFebruary16at5 :23p .m.).
- 3.1millionviewers cheered asCanada won goldinmen's curlingagainstGreatBritain(Day15–SaturdayFebruary21at3 :49p.m.)
- The third quarterofCanada'smatchagainstSwitzerlandinwomen'shockeywaswatchedby3millionpeople(Day1–SaturdayFebruary7at5 :09p.m.)
< li > A men'shockeygamebetweenCanadandCzechia attractedaround2 .6millionviewers(Day6–ThursdayFebruary12at12 :42 p.m.)
Team Canada's Performance Highlights
This year was also notable for Team canada's achievements; they secured a total of 21 medals throughout their time at Milano Cortina—placing them 11th overall on the medal table.
CBC's Future with olympic Broadcasting Rights
CBC has extended its broadcasting agreement with the International Olympic Commitee until 2032, which means they will continue covering major events like the Summer olympics set for Los Angeles in 2028, followed by the Winter Olympics scheduled for France in 2030, and then back to Australia for another Summer event in Brisbane by 2032.
Image credit: Canadian Olympic Committee
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