A star-studded night of the Olympic Games could not match four years ago, but still did well for NBC.
Primetime coverage of the Rio Summer Olympics earned an 18.6 overnight rating on NBC Sunday night, down 14% from London in 2012 (21.7) and down 13% from Beijing in 2008 (21.3). Compared to the same night of the most recent Olympics, the Sochi Winter Games in 2014, overnights increased 19% from a 15.7.
Including concurrent primetime coverage on NBCSN (0.9) and Bravo (0.5), the NBC family of networks surpassed a 21.0 overnight from 8-11 PM ET.
Though down from the past two Summer Olympics, Sunday’s telecast — which featured Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky swimming live and the U.S. women’s gymnastics team on tape delay — topped the first two nights of the Games. It ranks as the highest rated sports program in the metered markets since Game 7 of the NBA Finals in June (18.9) and seems likely to surpass that game when the final ratings are released.
Salt Lake City was Sunday’s top market with a 25.8 rating, down 3% from 2012 (26.5). The market also topped the charts on Saturday night, though with a much lower 17.4. Denver ranked second with a 22.3, with St. Louis (21.6), Kansas City (21.4) and Phoenix (21.0) rounding out the top five.
(Sun. numbers from NBC Sports)
