Keeping up with the Olympics is a popular occurrence for people worldwide. Some even travel lengths to watch the competition in person. However, the real question is would fans rather be bundled up head to toe in snow gear in the winter or watch the games with the sun shining on a hot day in the summer? Is the Winter Olympics or Summer Olympics more popular?
The Summer Olympics have been a consistent sporting event across the world since the 1896 Athens Games. The first Winter Olympics were held in 1924 in Chamonix, France. Since the start, both games have been a staple in most sports fans’ lives every two years.
Starting with the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the Summer Olympics has since averaged 3 billion worldwide in TV viewership. The most recent peak was in 2012 at the London games with 3.6 billion viewers. But for the Winter Games, the viewership looks a little different. The past four Winter Games have averaged near 1.9 billion total viewers across the globe. The recent peak was in 2014 with 2.1 billion viewers at Sochi.
There are various reasons for the difference in TV viewership for the Olympic games. The Summer Olympics has more sports with 329 total events. By contrast, the current Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Italy only has 15 sports with 116 events. The sheer number of events gives the Summer Olympics an easier chance of engaging a larger audience as there is more to watch.
The Summer Olympics has also been constantly adding new sports to its lineup. For the 2024 Paris Olympics: sport climbing, surging, skateboarding and even breakdancing were all added to the games.
For the upcoming 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, more popular team sports are being added including baseball, softball, flag football, lacrosse, cricket and squash. These new sports that are joining the 2028 games also bring in some of the biggest professional leagues worldwide with the NFL, MLB, Premier Lacrosse League, Indian Premier League and the Premier Squash League.
The 2002 games in Salt Lake City, Utah was the last time since a new sport was added to the Winter Olympics with skeleton. However, ski mountaineering was added as an optional sport in 2021 and will make an appearance this year in 2026 at Milan for the first time ever.
The sports that get the most attention during the Winter Olympics are less popular and watched less outside of the games. The most popular winter sport is hockey, with professional leagues across the world. The National Hockey League (NHL) is the largest league with a yearly revenue of $5.93 billion. Hockey is a large attraction to the Winter Olympics, especially when fans get to see their favorite NHL stars represent the USA or whichever country of their origin. Similar to when fans get to follow along with the top NBA stars playing for the USA team in the Summer Olympics. Steph Curry, Lebron James, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Edwards, all the NBA’s biggest faces. All of the new sports being added to the Olympics in addition to long-time favorites make all the summer and winter games full of anticipation for all parties following along.
Both the Summer and Winter Olympic games include some of the biggest names in sports, there’s no denying that. The summer has Michael Phelps (swimming), Simone Biles (gymnastics), Katie Ledecky (swimming), Usain Bolt (track and field), etc. The winter has Shaun White (snowboarding), Lindsey Vonn (alpine skiing), Chloe Kim (snowboarding), Elana Meyers Taylor (bobsled), Alysa Liu (figure skating) and more. Without comparison, these star-studded names help fuel the brand image of the games and the fan initiative to tune in.
While both the Summer and Winter Olympics showcase elite athletes and unforgettable golden moments, the summer games typically attract a larger global audience. Overall, both season’s games have plentiful events, expanded sport offerings and widespread connections to professional leagues with headline athlete names. No matter the season, the Olympic spirit continues to be a staple that unites fans across the globe.