Streaming Live From Paris: Comparison of the Broadcast Commentaries of the Olympic and Paralympic Volleyball Tournaments

The 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games both increased the total amount of media content through NBCUniversal’s television and streaming services compared to the Tokyo 2020 broadcasts, with thousands of hours of live sports coverage available across the globe. Previous Olympic research primarily focused on prime-time coverage, which is often limited to certain sports. This research sought to expand broadcast-commentary scholarship related to sport diversity through the comparative examination of the framing of Olympic and Paralympic volleyball on the NBC streaming service Peacock. The streaming content was examined to determine differences in media treatment of the Olympic and Paralympic athletes, as well as male and female volleyball athletes, during the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. The results suggested that while all athletes were framed as athletically talented, male Paralympians were more often characterized as strong and focused compared to their Olympic counterparts. At the same time, the backgrounds and experience of Olympic athletes were more likely to be mentioned than those of the Paralympic athletes. Further differences and implications are discussed.