This summary is provided by the IPR Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Dr. Roxanne Coche and Dr. C.A. Tuggle analyzed how NBC’s prime time coverage treated men’s and women’s sports including who and what was excluded from that coverage for both sexes.
A content analysis of over 311 hours of NBC prime-time coverage of the Summer Olympics from 1996-2020. The breakdown of hourly prime-time coverage for each Olympic year includes: 1996 (38 hours), 2000 (43 hours), 2004 (43 hours), 2008 (44 hours), 2012 (45 hours), 2016 (38 hours), and 2020 (41 hours).
Key findings include:
1.) Overall, men’s events received only 26 minutes more coverage than women’s events from 1996-2020
— Men used to receive more coverage, but this trend shifted in 2012.
— NBC started covering women more significantly (during prime-time) with women receiving 3 more hours than men in 2012 and over 2 hours more coverage in 2016.
2.) During the period of 1996-2020, more than two-thirds (68%) of power or hard-contact sports coverage analyzed, including taekwando and kayaking, was devoted to men.
3.) Prime-time coverage of non big-five women’s Olympic sports—gymnastics, swimming, diving, track & field, and beach volleyball—rose from 2% during the Rio Olympics to 20% during the Tokyo Olympics.
Read the original study here.
