With the figure skaters taking the night off, Winter Olympics ratings failed to crack the double-digits Wednesday night.
Wednesday’s primetime Winter Olympics coverage delivered an 8.3 rating and 14.1 million viewers on NBC, down 32% in ratings and 30% in viewership from 2014 (12.2, 20.2M) and down 30% and 29% respectively from 2014 (11.9, 19.8M). Figures include primetime encores on the West Coast.
NBC’s primetime coverage is now divided between broadcast, cable and streaming. Including concurrent viewership on NBCSN (2.1M) and NBC Sports digital platforms (164K), Wednesday’s window had a 9.7 (-20%) and 16.4 million (-19%).
Even including cable and streaming, it was the lowest rated second Wednesday of any Olympics since at least 1992, and the least-watched since 2006 (16.0M). Combined ratings and viewership have now declined double-digits in three of the past four nights.
Wednesday’s particularly sharp decline is primarily due to a scheduling change. The same night in 2014 featured the women’s figure skating short program. This year’s telecast had no figure skating, as the short program took place on Tuesday. (The same scheduling shift would also explain Tuesday’s surprising increase over 2014. NBC had figure skating this year and no figure skating the same night four years ago.)
Compared to the same night of the 2016 Summer Olympics, which also featured primetime cable and streaming coverage, Wednesday’s coverage declined 27% in ratings (from 13.3) and 26% in viewership (from 22.1M).
Primetime coverage of the Winter Olympics is now averaging a combined 11.7 rating and 20.8 million viewers across the NBC family of networks — down 9% in ratings and 8% in viewership from 2014 (12.8, 22.6M). The 11.7 is the lowest average at this point of any Olympics since at least 1992. The previous low was a 12.4 in 2006.
In viewership, the combined audience is the lowest since 2006 (20.7M). The NBC-only average of 18.5 million is the lowest since at least 1992.
Salt Lake City was Wednesday’s top market with a combined 18.8 across NBC and NBCSN, down 2% from 2014 (19.1). Denver (17.6, -14%), Minneapolis (17.6, -5%), Kansas City (15.6, -11%) and Milwaukee (14.9, -8%) rounded out the top five.
As for the rest of the top ten, Austin, Tex., checked in at a 14.2, followed by Ft. Myers, Fla. (14.1), Buffalo (14.0), West Palm Beach (13.8) and Portland (13.6).
[Wed. numbers from NBC Sports PR 2.22]
