NBC had its lowest prime time viewership so far for coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics on Thursday night.
The fourteenth night of the Olympics drew a 13.7/23 overnight rating and 22.1 million viewers on NBC in prime time (8-11 PM) last night, down 19% and 21% from a 16.7/28 and 27.95 million last Thursday.
The 22.1 million viewers is the smallest prime time audience for the Olympics so far. Prime time viewership peaked from 10-10:30 PM with 25.0 million viewers. Keep in mind the prime time numbers do not include anything past 11 PM.
The Olympics outclassed the rest of the network television competition, including a third night of preseason football on FOX. FOX drew a 3.1/5 overnight with 4.3 million viewers in prime time for coverage of 49ers/Bears, finishing third for the night behind NBC and CBS.
