NBC drew the lowest prime time rating for a Summer Olympics telecast in 20 years on Friday night.
Coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics drew a 10.5/19 rating and 17.6 million viewers on Friday, down 16% and 12% from a 12.5/23 and 20.1 million for the comparable night of the 2004 Athens Olympics. The 10.5 rating also marks a 1% decline from a 10.6 for the second Friday of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The 10.5 rating is tied as the lowest rating for a prime time Summer Olympics telecast since at least 1988, and is tied as the fourth lowest rated prime time telecast for any Olympics — summer or winter — during that same span. No prime time telecast during the 2004 Athens Olympics drew less than an 11.1 rating.
Through fifteen nights, prime time coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics is averaging a 16.5/28 rating and 28.1 million viewers on NBC, up 6% and 11% from a 15.5/27 and 25.3 million through the comparable night of the 2004 Athens Olympics. The 16.5 rating also marks a 16% increase from a 14.5 average through fifteen nights of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Lowest ratings for a prime time Olympics telecast.
since 1988; Summer or Winter
9.7/17: 2006 Turin, 15th Night (Fri., 2/24/06 NBC)
9.7/17: 2006 Turin, 16th Night (Sat., 2/25/06 NBC)
10.0/15: 2006 Turin, 13th Night (Wed., 2/22/06 NBC)
10.5/19: 2008 Beijing, 15th Night (Fri., 8/22/08 NBC)
10.5/20: 2000 Sydney, 16th Night (Sat., 9/30/00 NBC)
