For the second straight night, Winter Olympics ratings held up well on NBC.
Saturday’s primetime Winter Olympics coverage had an 11.6 rating and 21.4 million viewers on NBC, per Nielsen fast-nationals — down 17% in ratings and 15% in viewership from 2014 (13.9, 25.1M) and down 17% and 18% respectively from 2010 (14.0, 26.2M). Figures include encore presentations on the West Coast.
Keep in mind NBC’s primetime Olympic coverage is now divided between broadcast, cable and streaming. Including concurrent viewership on NBCSN and NBC’s digital platforms, Saturday’s primetime window delivered a 13.1 (-6%) and 24.2 million (-4%).
The combined audience is still the lowest for the first Saturday of the Winter Olympics since 2006 (Turin: 23.2M). Versus the same night of the 2016 Summer Games, the only other Olympics with primetime cable and streaming coverage, viewership increased 3% from a combined 23.5 million.
Saturday was the second straight night that the Winter Olympics have outperformed the previous Summer Games. No Winter Olympics has outdrawn its Summer counterpart since 2002.
Viewership peaked from 9:45-10 PM ET with 25.7 million watching across NBC and NBCSN.
Western markets led the way again Saturday. Salt Lake City topped the charts at a 24.5 rating, up 19% from 2014 (20.6). Denver was second at 22.7 (+12%), followed by Seattle (21.4) and San Diego (21.3). Overall, the Mountain and Pacific time zones made up seven of the top ten, with Sacramento (20.3), Portland (20.0) and Los Angeles (19.6) also on the list.
Kansas City (20.3), Milwaukee (19.9) and Tulsa (19.7) were the only Eastern or Central markets in the top ten.
[Numbers from NBC Sports PR 2.11]
