Paris Games are reviving NBC's Olympics spirit

By the numbers: The return of spectators, Simone Biles' comeback and the scenic Paris backdrops have helped to drive a major rebound in TV ratings.

• Friday's rain-soaked opening ceremony drew nearly 29 million viewers, making it the most-watched opening ceremony since 2012.
• It was also the most-streamed entertainment event in Peacock's brief history.
• On Saturday, the first full day of Olympic events, NBC drew more than 32 million across all of its platforms. That was its best single-day Olympics audience since the latter portion of the 2016 Rio Games.

The big picture: Peacock is finally getting the sizable Olympics push that NBC envisioned when it launched the streaming service in 2020.

• Peacock was supposed to debut right before the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2020. But those Games were delayed for a year because of COVID, and when they did happen, Peacock was beset by technical difficulties and a confusing programming strategy.
• The 2022 Winter Games in Beijing had similar problems.

This time around, Peacock is not only streaming all 329 medal events live, part of 5,000 hours of coverage, but it has a dedicated Olympics hub.

• Peacock also rolled out an option allowing viewers to watch multiple events at once, as well as a show called "Gold Zone" that whips around to whatever is the most compelling thing happening at any moment, similar to NFL RedZone.