Olympic years always create a surge in interest for sports, including less-heralded ones as attention turns toward unique competitions that are typically less present on TV.
Which sports could be the breakout winners of the upcoming 2026 Olympic Games? A look at 2025 viewership data could start to offer some clues around the hottest competitions during what should be an ice-cold Olympic Winter Games™ in Milano-Cortina, Italy.
Ice Skating Videos Outpace Most Winter Sports Content
Even in a non-Olympic year, ice skating videos alone drove 4.2B views across platforms in 2025 – well outpacing other winter sports categorized by Tubular Labs. Figure skating made up the majority of those, driving 2.2B views and an impressive 36.8M total engagements.
Figure skating is regularly one of the most-watched aspects of Winter Olympics, and last year’s data would seem to suggest that will be the case once again.
While NBC owns the exclusive rights around the Games themselves, increased interest in figure skating and ice skating is a cue to other publishers to lean into related content as audiences get ready for the Olympics.
Even outside of sports, ice skating’s unique fashion and aesthetic elements provide relevant openings for hair, beauty, and fashion creators to weigh in. Accounts focused on “how to” content can lean into teaching the basics of ice skating; which could lend additional appeal for communities without easy access to ice rinks and/or equipment.
Skiing Videos on YouTube Amass Considerable Winter Olympics Viewership
This year’s Olympic Games will feature more than 20 different types of skiing events, making it one of the most-represented sports and an easy one to latch onto across various disciplines.
In 2025, skiing videos on YouTube amassed 2.2B views, with freestyle skiing and alpine skiing combining to make up about a third of those views. Across more than 6K uploads for the year, freestyle and alpine skiing videos averaged 128K views per video.
Ski jumping, while featuring far fewer videos, averaged an even higher number at 426K views per video.
French creator Anthony Robert was among the most prolific skiing creators in 2025, uploading a wide collection of videos around skiing topics – which surprisingly peaked in viewership over the summer. Robert’s approach using skiing as a content lens is a great example of effectively identifying and leaning into a niche topic. And it’s one that sporting goods brands can follow as well.
Niche Olympic Sports Like Bobsleigh Fuel Storytelling in Social Video
Bobsledding was propelled to wider fame in the 1990s after Disney’s Cool Runnings, which focused on the true story of the first Jamaican bobsled team.
But the sport has maintained popularity ever since, and the idea of sprinters-turned-bobsledders continues to be alive and well as a storytelling trope when talking about bobsledding on social media.
In 2025, bobsleigh was talked up by creator accounts like Rome Music, but also the Great Britain bobsled team themselves, who use social video to give behind-the-scenes looks at their training and preparation for the upcoming Games. The sport earned 317K views per video last year, despite it not being an Olympic year.
Other niche Olympic sports like curling and snowboarding are likely winners based on past views and interest as well. Their social video success is also a sign of what to watch in February, both in terms of competitions and advertising; as brands are most likely to work with athletes in these popular sports.
Read our Sports Snapshot report to uncover the social video trends continuing to shape sports content and fan engagement.
Key Takeaways:
- Popular sports like skiing and ice skating generate viewership even in non-Olympic years, so brands and publishers aren’t limited to Olympic action if they want to capitalize on audience interest.
- Sports aren’t a narrow category, and lend themselves to secondary conversations around fashion, personal stories, and music (among others) that tie them to larger culture.
- Identifying a niche and leaning all the way into it can help develop expertise and audience equity that isn’t directly dependent on big events like the Olympics.
Trying to measure the next breakout content trend or sport to get ahead of the competition? Get in touch with Tubular Labs today to learn more.