Milan Cortina, Olympics between streaming, clips and 'intermittent' audiences
TV remains central, but according to research by The Trade Desk and Appinio, the Games will increasingly be watched on digital
Television remains, but loses its monopoly. And the Winter Olympics, which are returning to Italy after twenty years - the last time was Turin 2006 - risk becoming above all this: the first major national sporting event experienced as a mosaic, made up of live broadcasts, clips, highlights, news, commentaries and delayed coverage. An Olympics that streams, bounces on Connected TV, breaks up and then reassembles itself in daily routines.
This is stated by a research by The Trade Desk, an adtech company, carried out with Appinio: a thermometer on seven markets (Italia, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea) that gives precise indications. The viewer is shifting: less 'linear TV', more multiplatform viewing. In Australia, almost one in two respondents (47%) say they will follow the Games via streaming; in the United States it is 41%, in Canada 34%. Italia, often portrayed as conservative in front of the television set, is not standing still: 31% plan to rely on digital platforms to follow the competitions.
Of course, expectations are high: 73% of Italians say they want to follow Milan Cortina 2026 and 72% plan to watch the races live. The news is not that live coverage is dying: it is that it is no longer enough. Because the Olympic experience, by now, continues after the finish line and often begins before the start, among previews, stories, summaries, thirty-second clips that act as a hook and a memory. According to the study, 49 per cent of Italians watch highlights and clips, 41 per cent catch up with sports news; then come forums and online discussions (23 per cent) and even deferred coverage (15 per cent). It is a staggered loyalty, an intermittent presence that does not reduce interest: it distributes it.
There is also a 'national' component to all this. 70% of Italians say they are more inclined to follow the Games because they are hosted in their own country. And 33% go beyond the screen: they are interested in watching the competitions live.
But what will people be watching? According to the survey results, downhill skiing is the sport most eagerly awaited by Italians (33%), followed by cross-country skiing (32%) and skating (30%). The ice disciplines travel side by side, each at 30%. Then there is the long tail of the 'almost-niches' that suddenly become popular because the Olympics acts as a giant amplifier: ski jumping (29%), bobsleighing and snowboarding (25%), luge (23%), freestyle (22%), ice hockey (21%). The research notes a detail that explains everything: many Italians do not regularly follow these disciplines outside the Olympic years. The Games are, for them, a concentrated and unrepeatable occasion.
