The first night of competition at the delayed, fanless Olympics was another downer for NBC.
NBC said Sunday that Saturday’s opening night of competition at the Tokyo Summer Olympics averaged a preliminary 8.2 rating and 15.3 million viewers across NBC, USA, NBCSN and CNBC. Those figures are approximate and it is not immediately clear whether they account for out-of-home viewing. They do include the 648,000 viewers per minute who streamed coverage on NBC’s digital platforms, a new record.
The combined average falls well short of the comparable night in Rio five years ago, when NBC, NBCSN and Bravo combined to average a 13.1 and 23.5 million. It also falls well below the comparable night of the most recent Olympics, the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games, when NBC and NBCSN combined to average a 13.1 and 24.2 million.
This year marks the first time since 2004 that the opening night of competition at any Olympics averaged fewer than 20 million viewers. The first night in Athens averaged 19.8 million.
NBC said that the 8.2 rating for Saturday’s telecast marked a 26% increase over Friday’s primetime coverage of the Opening Ceremony (6.5). Keep in mind the Opening Ceremony also aired live in the morning. Across the live and primetime versions, NBC said Saturday that the Opening Ceremony averaged around 17 million viewers.
Outside of primetime, NBC said its late night show on Saturday averaged 4.4 million viewers, up 13% from the comparable night in Rio. Keep in mind that NBC aired some live programming in its primetime window this year (skateboarding), while the same window in 2016 featured taped men’s gymnastics.
USA Network and NBCSN combined for 1.5 million during their respective late morning windows, up 24% from the comparable Saturday morning cable coverage in Rio, which aired on NBCSN and Bravo.
[Numbers from NBC]
