NBC saw a solid boost in viewership for the first night of competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics averaged a 14.0/25 rating and 26.2 million viewers on NBC Saturday night, up 4% in ratings and 13% in viewership from the comparable night of the 2006 Turin Olympics (13.5/23, 23.2 mil), but down 18% and 11%, respectively, from the comparable night of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics (17.1/30, 29.4 mil).
Compared to the first Saturday of the 1998 Nagano Olympics, Saturday’s telecast was up 14% in ratings from a 12.3/22. Additionally, the telecast outdrew the first Saturday night of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics (13.9/27, 24.1 mil).
The 26.2 million viewers for Saturday’s telecast topped every night of the ’06 Turin Olympics.
Through two nights, the 2010 Winter Olympics is averaging a 15.9/28 rating and 30.0 million viewers, up 21% and 33%, respectively, from ’06 (13.1/22, 22.6 mil), and the highest average for the first two nights of the Winter Olympics since Lillehammer in ’94 (25.2/38, 39.9 mil, CBS).
