The 2026 Winter Olympics starts in just a few days.

It’s an event I really enjoy – a rare reason to watch sports that don’t usually cross my radar. The likes of snowboarding, ski-jumping, ice hockey, speed skating and, yes, curling.

It’s always fun, but (and maybe this is a bit of UK bias) I’m always a bit surprised when I look at the GWI data and see that this is the 3rd most popular sporting event in the world.

So I thought I’d dig a little bit into that data to see what this audience looks like, in a document I’ve creatively titled “Who watches the Winter Olympics?”.

This is just a quick snapshot, but people who take an interest in the Winter Olympics are, on average fairly young, highly educated, affluent and respond well to brands that sponsor their favourite teams or events.

This has the makings of an audience that a lot of brands might be interested in.

Becoming an TOP Olympic Partner is going to be out of reach for most, but there might be interesting options to explore at the national and local level for future Winter Games, or smaller properties connected to winter sports.