Boosted by Americans Lindsay Vonn, Apolo Ohno and Shani Davis, Saturday night’s coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics not only topped 2006, but 2002 as well.
Coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics drew a 14.7/24 rating and 26.7 million viewers on NBC Saturday night, up 30% in ratings and 36% in viewership from the comparable night in ’06 (Turin; 11.3/19, 19.7 mil), and up 5% and 11%, respectively, from the comparable night in ’02 (Salt Lake City; 14.0/25, 24.1 mil).
Saturday was the first night of the Vancouver Olympics to draw a higher rating than the comparable night in ’02.
Versus the comparable night of the 1998 Nagano Olympics, Saturday’s rating was down 5% from a 15.4/28.
Milwaukee was the top local market, with a 25.3/39. Rounding out the top five were Seattle (21.9/41), Denver (21.4/37), Salt Lake City (20.9/36) and Portland (20.0/37).
Through Saturday, NBC is averaging a 14.7/24 rating and 26.3 million viewers for evening coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics, up 20% and 28%, respectively, from 2006 (12.2/20, 20.6 mil), and the most-viewed non-U.S. Winter Olympics through nine nights since Lillehammer in ’94 (38.7 mil).
