For the third straight night, ratings and viewership increased for the Winter Olympics.
Primetime coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics drew a 14.3/23 final rating and 26.4 million viewers on NBC Sunday night, up 8% in ratings and 14% in viewership from the comparable night in ’06 (Turin, 13.3/20, 23.2 mil), but down 18% and 13%, respectively, from the comparable night in ’02 (Salt Lake City, 17.6/27, 30.2 mil).
Compared to the first Sunday of the 1998 Nagano Olympics, Sunday’s telecast was down 29% from a 20.2/30.
For the second straight night, Milwaukee was the top market for coverage of the Winter Olympics, averaging a 23.4/34. Milwaukee was followed by Minneapolis (21.5/35) and Denver (21.5/34).
With the NBA All-Star Game also taking place Sunday night, several NBA markets with players in the All-Star Game still watched the Olympics in large numbers — including the aforementioned Denver market, Boston (19.2/33), Cleveland (17.8/38), Oklahoma City (16.9/31) and Phoenix (16.9/27).
Through three nights, primetime coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics is averaging a 15.3/26 rating and 28.6 million viewers on NBC, up 16% in ratings and 25% in viewers from Turin in 2006 (13.2/29, 22.9 mil), but down 23% in ratings from Salt Lake City in 2002 (20.3/33).
