Over the first five days of competition at the Paris Olympics, both the Australian and the US host broadcasters are celebrating their own podium wins with record numbers tuning it to watch the best of the best.

The Nine network, which paid a reported $305 million to secure the media rights through to the 2032 Games in Brisbane, has averaged about 10 million viewers (up until 2am) nationally on Nine, 9Gem and 9Now each full day since the July 26 opening ceremony.

Despite the time difference, Aussie fans are planning their evenings on the couch, with 5.6 million tuning in to the crucial 7pm to 9pm time slot alone on Monday to watch swimmers Kyle Chalmers, Mollie O’Callaghan and Shayna Jack power through heats.

Almost 4.3 million stuck around to watch the young boxer, Harry Garside, in the 9.30pm to 10.30pm window wear his heart on his sleeve as he bowed out of medal contention in the ring.

For the first three days of competition, the combination of live broadcast television, live-streaming and on-demand television – total television – achieved a National Total TV Reach of 14.785 million.

Its complementary streaming platform, Stan Sport, is also setting a viewing record, according to MediaWeek, as people choose to pay to watch commercial-free, on-demand events as they unfold.

US host broadcaster, Comcast’s NBCUniversal, which paid $US7.65 billion ($11.78 billion) to renew its media rights deal through 2032 (and includes streamer Peacock), is also celebrating its return on investment.

After drawing 28.6 million viewers on NBC and Peacock for Friday’s opening ceremony, the weekend telecasts drew even bigger numbers.

On the first day of competition on July 27, NBC’s total audience was 32.4 million, according to custom fast national ratings from Nielsen (for linear broadcasts) and Adobe Analytics (for streaming and digital).

On Sunday, which featured the first day of competition for Simone Biles and her comeback after experiencing the “twisties” in Tokyo in 2020, an astonishing 41.5 million people tuned in.

A Gallup poll found she was a major Games drawcard, reported AP, with 42 per cent saying they would be watching gymnastics.

“[The] opening ceremony, one of the most ambitious and complex in Olympic history, was a spectacle for those in attendance in Paris, delivered a huge audience across our NBCU platforms, and set records for Peacock,” NBC Sports president Rick Cordella said.

“Thanks to the tireless effort of our production and engineering teams, and extensive promotion, we are off to a strong start that is in line with the expectations of our NBC stations, and distribution and advertising partners.

“We are in great position as we look forward to the next two weeks of competition.”

How we watched Day Three  in a different time zone

Nine’s Olympics Ratings Snapshot, released every day about 12.30pm, revealed some astonishing and steady numbers.

On Monday (Day 3), the night session was Nine’s No.1 program in all key demographics with the swimming heats (not even gold medal races) from 7pm to 9pm.

It recorded a National Total TV Reach of 5.69 million, a Total TV National Audience of 2.058 million and a BVOD [broadcast video on demand] audience of 297,000.

From 9pm to 10.30pm, the highly anticipated bout of Garside secured a National Total TV Reach of 4.3 million, a Total TV National Audience of 1.415 million and a BVOD audience of 232,000.

And from 10pm to midnight, there were still two million people tuned in to the coverage of the Aussie Women’s Sevens’ triumph over Ireland with a 19-14 victory and equestrian, Chris Burton, who earned Australia’s third silver medal with a flawless final jumping ride in the individual equestrian eventing on his beloved Shadow Man.

These viewing numbers have remained consistent throughout the week.

More than 4.25 million fans, not used to watching BMX tricks at night, stayed up in the 9pm time slot to watch two-time Olympian Natalya Diehm ride her way to the BMX Freestyle final.

Australian viewers are enjoying every sport from canoe slalom to basketball and trap shooting, but NBC is reaping the rewards of its biggest export to Paris this week.

Off the back of 27-year-old Simone Bile’s astonishingly candid Netflix documentary, Simone Biles Rising, in which she details her mental health struggles in Tokyo mid-pandemic and withdrawing from competition, her family life and marriage, all eyes were on her performance in artistic gymnastics.

On July 30, she became the most decorated American gymnast in Olympic history with eight medals after leading the US women’s gymnastics team to gold.

Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Tom Cruise, American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and NBC commentator Snoop Dogg were in the crowd to watch her.

A forecast 40 million fans were tuning in on NBC’s broadcast.