The ratings may have been paltry by prime time standards, but NBC saw a big increase for its coverage of the World Figure Skating Championships.
Coverage of the women’s free skate at the World Figure Skating Championships averaged a 2.6/5 overnight on NBC from 9-11 PM Saturday night, up 100% from a 1.3 for ABC’s coverage of the same event last year.
Keep in mind that last year’s coverage aired in the afternoon on tape delay, while NBC’s coverage aired in prime time and was live on the East Coast.
The 2.6 compared favorably to other sporting events, surpassing a 2.2 overnight for a Mavericks/Cavaliers NBA game on Sunday afternoon, and coming to within a point of the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which aired earlier on Saturday.
Not all of the news was good. While ratings were up substantially, NBC still finished fourth in prime time Saturday night, behind CBS NCAA Tournament coverage, Cops and America’s Most Wanted on FOX, and a four-year-old Reece Witherspoon movie on ABC.
