As is usually the case, Winter Olympics ratings plumbed the depths on the final weekend.
Sunday’s Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony drew an 8.4 rating and 14.8 million viewers on NBC, down 3% in ratings and 2% in viewership from 2014 (8.7, 15.1M) and down 31% in both measures from 2010 (12.1, 21.4M). Figures include primetime encores on the West Coast.
Compared to the Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony in 2016, ratings fell 14% (from 9.8) and viewership 13% (from 17.0M).
The telecast ranks as the lowest rated Olympic Closing Ceremony on record, falling below the previous mark set in 2014. The TV audience (streaming figures were not released) ranks — at best — as the second-smallest on record. It was not immediately clear whether this year’s audience exceeded the 2006 low of 14.837 million.
The final weekend of the Olympics is traditionally the lowest rated stretch of the Games, particularly in the Winter Olympics. This year was no exception.
On Saturday, primetime coverage delivered 11.7 million viewers on NBC alone (-12%) and a combined 7.7 rating (-1%) and 13.5 million (+2%) across NBC, NBCSN and NBC digital platforms.
The combined 7.7 rating is the lowest ever for primetime Olympic coverage. The previous low was a 7.8 on the comparable night in 2014. While combined viewership topped 2014 — just the third increase in this year’s Olympics — it was still the second-smallest primetime Olympic audience on record.
Finally, Friday’s primetime coverage drew a 7.4 rating (-16%) and 12.9 million (-14%) on NBC alone, and an 8.1 (-8%) and 14.0 million (-6%) across all platforms. It ranks as the lowest rated and least-watched final Friday of any Olympics on record.
Salt Lake City led all markets Friday (16.7) and Sunday (17.6) and ranked second on Saturday (16.1). In a surprise, San Diego was Saturday’s top market with a 16.3 rating, its first time atop the charts.
Denver ranked second on Friday (14.6) and Sunday (15.5) and third on Saturday (15.7). Also cracking the top five were Minneapolis-St. Paul (14.2), Kansas City (12.6) and Milwaukee (12.6) on Friday; Los Angeles (14.4) and Seattle (14.0) on Saturday; and Portland (14.9), San Diego (14.9) and Seattle (14.3) on Sunday.
