Ice Cold Gold: RMS Research Panel Shares Enthusiasm For 2026 Winter Olympics In Latest Survey
In January of 2026, we asked our Viewpoint research panel to share their opinions about the Winter Olympics. Over 1,000 participants completed the survey, in which we asked respondents questions about their feelings toward the Winter Olympic games, their plans to watch, how they would watch the Olympics and general social behaviors regarding the 2026 Olympic Winter Games this February. Here’s what they had to say.
Winter Olympics Interest
To gauge interest in the Winter Olympics, the first question we asked was ‘how interested are you in the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics?’ This question was answered on a 5-point scale with ‘5’ indicating a respondent was very interested and ‘1’ indicating a respondent was not at all interested. 29.4% of respondents indicated that they were very interested in the Winter Olympics, 22.7% of respondents rated this question a ‘4,’ still indicating interest and 22.8% of respondents indicated a ‘3.’ Only 13% of respondents rated this question a ‘2.’ Finally, only 10.7% of respondents were ‘not at all interested’ in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Things got a bit interesting when we asked the respondents “where are the Winter Olympics being held?” This open-ended question brought back several responses. A vast majority of respondents did not know where the 2026 Winter Olympic games were being held. Some respondents stated that they were happening in Europe, Paris, and even Lake Placid, New York. But there were plenty of people who did know that the games are taking place in Milan, Italy this year. Some people were very specific, responding that the games were taking place in Northern Italy. We took all answers related to Italy as being correct!
A high majority of respondents (74.4%) indicated that they will be watching the 2026 Winter Olympics, while only 21% stated they would not be watching, showing that our panel is interested in this year’s games. On a scale of 1 to 5 where 5 was very excited and 1 was not at all excited, respondents were asked how excited are you about the 2026 Winter Olympics as compared to previous Winter Olympics. Forty-seven percent rated this question a ‘3,’ indicating that they were excited but not overly excited as compared to previous years. 21.8% of respondents indicated that they were 4 or somewhat more excited than previous years, while only 18.5% of respondents noted that they were very excited for this year’s Winter Olympics compared to other years. Interestingly, respondents stated that they enjoy the Winter Olympics (60%) over the Summer Olympics (40%). When asked why they preferred one season over the other, common themes were better competition compared to the other season, enjoying the season-specific sports more, loving figure skating, and personal participation in sports that are specific to the season they chose.
Olympic Watch Party Preferences
When asked ‘which platform do you plan to use the most to watch the Winter Olympics,’ 68.8% stated that they will watch on TV, while 27.8% stated they would view via streaming services. Only 2.4% said they would watch using social media clips, showing that people appreciate the live action on television. Further, when asked ‘how many hours per week do you expect to spend watching Olympic coverage,’ 55.7% stated that they would spend between 1-5 hours watching, 21.4% stated 6-10 hours, and 15.1% stated they would spend more than 10 hours watching the games. Only 7.6% state that they would spend less than one hour watching the games. In addition, respondents were asked if they planned on watching the opening ceremonies; 70% stated ‘yes, they would watch these ceremonies,’ while 30% stated they would not. Further, respondents were asked on a 5-point scale how closely they planned on following the Winter Olympics, with 5 being ‘very closely’ and 1 being ‘not at all.’ Most respondents (43%) responded in the middle with a ‘3,’ meaning they will be watching the games closely, but not ‘very closely.’ 24.3% of survey participants responded with a ‘4,’ meaning they would watch ‘somewhat closely.’ Finally, only 15.3% of respondents stated that they would be watching ‘very closely.’ When asked ‘how do you plan to follow the Winter Olympics,’ 47.4% of respondents stated that they would watch live on TV or streaming services, 19.8% stated that they would read about them online or in the news, 16.5% stated they would follow on social media, and 14.8% stated they would watch the highlights.
While most think the reason people watch the Olympic games is due to national pride, this was not the case for our research panel respondents. When asked ‘what motivates you to watch the Winter Olympics,’ 42.2% of respondents stated that entertainment was their main motivation for watching. In addition, respondents claimed that their motivation was due to a love of winter sports (23.9%). National pride came in third at 21.4%, and ‘following favorite athletes’ at 9.5%.
Individual Sports, Team Sports, Or Both?
Respondents were asked ‘which type of events do you prefer to watch?’ The majority of participants (52.5%) stated that they prefer to watch both individual events as well as team events. Individual sports came in at a strong second with 42.2% stating they prefer these events over team events. Surprisingly, only 5.1% prefer team sports. When asked to rank their top three most favorite sports to watch, the top ranking sport was Figure Skating with 521 responses. The second-highest-ranked sport that respondents like to watch is Ski Jumping, with 260 responses; Ice Hockey came in third as one of their top three favorite sports to watch with 249 responses.
Word of mouth wins!
When asked ‘do you plan to discuss/talk about the Winter Olympics with friends, family and co-workers,’ 73% of respondents plan to discuss the games with others. Word of mouth is victorious, with 49.1% of respondents stating they would use word of mouth as a way to talk about the games with friends, family or co-workers. 19.6% of respondents stated that they would discuss the games infrequently, while 14.9% stated they would discuss the games through social media means. Finally, 10.6% of respondents stated they would use mobile texting to discuss the games.
Word
When asked, “do you plan to discuss/ talk about the Winter Olympics with friends, family and co-workers,” 73% of respondents plan to discuss the games with others. Word of mouth is victorious, with 49.1% of respondents stating they would use word of mouth as a way to talk about the games with friends, family or co-workers. 19.6% of respondents stated that they would discuss the games infrequently while 14.9% stated they would discuss the games through social media. Finally, 10.6% of respondents stated they would use mobile texting to discuss the games.
Interested in more survey results from our research panel participants across the country? Check out these related blogs:
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About the Author – Julie Daniel
Julie is a Research Analyst in the RMS Analytics Department division, responsible for programming surveys, coordinating recruitment, and cleaning, analyzing, and reporting survey data. Julie also supports many other divisions at RMS, including helping with phone recruitment in our call center or research needs within our healthcare division.
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About RMS
Research & Marketing Strategies, Inc. (RMS) is a full-service market research firm in Central New York. Formed in 2002, RMS helps organizations that are looking to know more about their customers and/or potential customers. We conduct surveys, focus groups, mystery shopping, studies, and analyses. Each project is customized and gets personal attention so that actionable, data-driven findings are delivered. RMS has a reputation for getting results. We offer an independent, professional means to conduct telephone, on-line, and mail surveying, as well as in-depth interviews, intercept interviews, and participant recruitment. We also host discussion groups through QualiSight, our onsite call center and focus group facility. We have a proven reputation for successfully recruiting and moderating focus groups, community forums, and town meetings.
Interesting research results! Thank you for sharing them!