Aided by a Sunday night timeslot, the national championship of women’s gymnastics hit a sixteen-year high.
The women’s final of the USA Gymnastics National Championships delivered 5.4 million viewers on NBC Sunday night, up 129% from last year (2.4M) and up 170% from 2013 (2.0M), when coverage aired on a Saturday night. Ratings were not immediately available.
Viewership was the highest for the event since 2000. Keep in mind the national championship is not the same as the Olympic Trials, which for the women will not take place until next month. In 2012, the women’s gymnastics trials generated 7.8 million for preliminary competition and 10.0 million for the final.
NBC also scored 3.6 million viewers for primetime coverage on Friday night, trailing only Sunday’s telecast as the largest audience for the event since 2007.
In other gymnastics news, the men’s Olympic Trials earned 3.2 million viewers on Saturday night. Viewership in 2012 was not immediately available.
(Numbers from NBC Sports PR/Twitter [1], [2], ShowBuzz Daily)
