Analysis of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Media Coverage via Instagram

In a departure from previous reports, analysis of the media coverage of the Olympic Games examined photos posted to the main feeds of the following Instagram accounts: @Olympics, @Paris2024 @TeamUSA, @NBCOlympics. These are the official governing body accounts of the games, and NBC is the official media rights holder for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the United States. The number of photographs dedicated to male, female, transgender athletes or multiple athletes were counted for each source totaling 4,899 pictures. Preliminary data analysis of the pictures posted during the Olympic Games (n=973) indicates that @Paris2024 accounted for 41.3% of the images, @TeamUSA 23.2%, @Olympics 21% and @NBCOlympics 14.4% of the images. 37.4% of images were dedicated to female athletes, 42.6% dedicated to male athletes, 12.8% dedicated to both male and female athletes. Images were coded into three categories: active, passive or metacommunicative (images with text like promo for NBC, or memes). Male athletes were depicted as active in 22% of the total Instagram posts compared to female athletes in 12% of the total posts. Female athletes were featured in metacommunicative posts 18.4% of the total posts compared to male athletes at 15.72%. Female athletes were depicted as passive in 6.7% of the total posts compared to male athletes, 5.4% of the posts. According to the IOC, the Olympic Games had 50% male athletes and 50% female athletes. The media analysis (at this point) seems to suggest that the official accounts provide more coverage for male athletes and depict male athletes as active compared to female athletes.