For the first time during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, primetime coverage on NBC drew less than 20 million viewers.
Wednesday night coverage of the Winter Games drew an 11.9/19 rating and 19.8 million viewers on NBC, up 19% in ratings and 24% in viewership from the comparable night in ’06 (Turin; 10.0/15, 16.0 mil), but down 39% and 38%, respectively, from the comparable night in ’02 (Salt Lake City; 19.5/31, 32.0 mil).
Wednesday’s rating was also down 43% from the comparable night of the 1998 Nagano Olympics (20.7/32), and 75% from the comparable night of the ’94 Lillehammer Olympics (48.5/64). The latter night featured the much-hyped ladies short program between Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding.
This marks the lowest rated, least-viewed evening window of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, surpassing the previous low set on February 16 (12.2/19, 20.3 mil).
American Idol once again topped the Olympics on Wednesday night, with the reality show winning the battle by 8% in ratings (12.8/20 to 11.8/19) and 14% in viewership (23.0 mil to 19.8 mil).
Overall, American Idol won three of the four head-to-head meetings with the Olympic games.
Salt Lake City was Wednesday’s top market, with a 20.3/32. Milwaukee (18.7/27), Denver (17.9/29), Seattle (17.6/31) and Minneapolis (17.1/28) made up the rest of the top five.
Through Wednesday, evening coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics averaged a 14.1/23 rating and 24.9 million viewers on NBC, up 14% and 20%, respectively, from ’06 (12.4/20, 20.7 mil), but down 24% in ratings from ’02 (18.6/30), and down 15% in ratings from ’98 (16.5/27).
