One night after setting a Summer Olympic record-low, the Rio Games concluded with the least-watched Closing Ceremony since 2000.
Tape delayed coverage of the Rio Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony had a 9.8 final rating and 17.0 million viewers on NBC Sunday night, down 43% in ratings and 45% in viewership from London in 2012 (17.0, 31.0M) and down 37% and 39%, respectively, from Beijing in 2008 (15.5, 27.8M).
Compared to the Closing Ceremony of the most recent Olympics, the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, ratings increased 13% (from 8.7) and viewership 13% (from 15.1M).
Sunday’s telecast ranks as the lowest rated Closing Ceremony of any Summer Olympics, falling below the previous mark of 10.8 for Sydney in 2000. It also ranks as the least-watched since Sydney (16.7M) and second-least watched since at least 1984. Regardless of night, it was the second-lowest rated primetime Summer Olympics telecast on record, ahead of only the previous night’s coverage (9.0), and the sixth-least watched since at least 1992.
Prior to Rio, no night of the Summer Olympics had ever earned a single-digit rating.
In adults 18-49, the Closing Ceremony scored a 4.1 rating — down 55% from 2012 (9.2) and down 50% from 2008 (8.2).
Figures do not include NBC’s one-hour special “Rio Gold” which aired prior to the Closing Ceremony. That telecast had 11.5 million viewers and a 2.7 in the demo.
(Sun. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily)
