The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics provided the first concrete figures on how significantly out-of-home (OOH) viewing can increase television broadcast reach in the Czech environment. Data from the Association of Television Organisations (ATO), provided to MediaGuru.cz by Czech Television, shows that the most-watched broadcasts attracted more than 200,000 additional viewers.
On 1 February 2026, the ATO officially expanded its television audience measurement to include data from the ReDAM mobile panel. In addition to traditional people meter measurement in households (PCEM), it now also includes viewing of television content outside the home, i.e. in restaurants, holiday cottages, waiting rooms and other public spaces.
Hockey added over a quarter of a million viewers
The most watched broadcast of this year's Winter Olympics on ČT sport was the Czechia-Canada ice hockey match on 18 February. It was watched by 1.89 million viewers in households and another 259,000 outside the home. Viewership outside the home thus represented an increase of more than 13%.
Other hockey broadcasts also made a similarly significant contribution to OOH. The Czechia-Denmark match added almost 191,000 viewers outside the home (12.1%), while the Switzerland-Czechia match added another 190,000 (11.3%). Other sports also exceeded the threshold of 150,000–200,000 viewers outside the home, such as the biathlon mixed relay (200,000, 13.3%) and the parallel giant slalom in snowboarding (182,000, 13.2%).
TOP 15 broadcasts of the 2026 Winter Olympics on ČT sport
The increase corresponds to ATO estimates
Before the launch of live broadcasting, ATO estimated that including out-of-home viewing could increase total viewership by 6 to 10%. Data from the Winter Olympics show that for premium sports broadcasts, the increase is even higher – most often between 10 and 14%, and in one case even over 24% (for the less-watched Slovakia-Germany ice hockey match, where the relative increase was influenced by lower domestic viewership). On average, the TOP 15 most-watched broadcasts saw a 13% increase in ratings.
Sports content thus confirms that this type of programme has significant potential for collective viewing in public spaces. Restaurants, sports bars and fan zones become an important distribution channel for television coverage during major events.
The inclusion of mobile measurement provides the television market with a more realistic picture of overall reach. Especially for sports broadcasts, the share outside the home can be significant. For broadcasters and advertisers, this means a more accurate calculation of actual reach.
Source: mediaguru.cz