The Summer Olympics put up big numbers on NBC Sunday night, but continued to trail both London and Beijing.
Primetime coverage of the Rio Summer Olympics earned a 16.1 final rating and 29.8 million viewers on NBC Sunday night, down 19% in ratings and 17% in viewership from London in 2012 (19.8, 36.0M) and down 11% and 8%, respectively, from Beijing in 2008 (18.1, 32.3M).
Versus the comparable night of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, ratings increased 12% and viewership 13% from a 14.4 and 26.3 million.
In adults 18-49, Sunday’s telecast delivered a 9.1 rating — down 22% from 2012 (11.6), down 19% from 2008 (11.2) and the lowest for the first Sunday of the Summer Olympics since at least 1992. The previous low over that span was a 9.4 for Sydney in 2000. The 9.1 does exceed the comparable night of each Winter Olympics since 2002.
Ratings and viewership are for the 7-11:48 PM ET portion of NBC’s telecast window, accounting for nearly all of the network’s coverage. By comparison, Saturday’s numbers excluded about 90 minutes of NBC’s 4 1/2 hour window. The night featured live swimming bookended by women’s gymnastics, with NBC’s three primary stars of the Olympics — Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles — each in competition.
Including live primetime coverage on NBCSN and Bravo, the NBC family of networks combined for 34.0 million viewers from 8-11 PM ET. As NBC noted in a Monday press release, this year marks the first time primetime Olympic coverage has aired concurrently on broadcast and cable. It also marks the first time that Olympic TV broadcasts (as opposed to raw event footage) have been available via livestream, though it is not clear how much streaming has cannibalized the TV audience.
For the year, Sunday’s 16.1 rating is the highest for any sporting event outside of the NFL, topping Game 7 of the NBA Finals (15.8). The NBA game still holds the top spot in viewership, with 31.0 million.
NBC has now averaged a 14.3 rating and 26.7 million viewers for primetime coverage of the Rio Olympics, down 26% in ratings and 25% in viewership from 2012 (19.2, 35.8M) and down 16% and 13%, respectively, from 2008 (17.1, 30.6M). The three-night average is the lowest since Athens in 2004 (14.1, 24.0M).
(Sun. numbers from NBC Sports Group Press Box, additional info from ShowBuzz Daily)
