FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, February 21st, 2018

LINDSEY VONN’S FINAL OLYMPIC DOWNHILL LEADS NBC OLYMPICS TO 8% INCREASE OVER COMPARABLE SOCHI OLYMPICS TELECAST

Tuesday Night Viewership Peaks at Nearly 24 Million for Women’s Alpine Skiing & Women’s Figure Skating Short Program

NBC Broadcast Marks Most Dominant 2nd Tuesday of Winter Games Coverage in People Meter History

Mikaela Shiffrin & Lindsey Vonn Compete in Women’s Super Combined Live Tonight at 8 p.m. ET on NBC

 

STAMFORD, Conn. – February 21, 2018 – Led by Lindsey Vonn’s bronze medal performance in her final Olympic downhill, Tuesday’s NBC Olympics’ primetime coverage delivered a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) average of 20.5 million viewers – an increase of 8% over the second Tuesday of the 2014 Sochi Olympics, according to live plus same day fast national data released today by Nielsen, and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

“To beat a comparable night from four years ago this late in the Olympics is a gravity-defying media achievement,” said Joe Brown, senior vice president of research for NBC Sports Group.

Last night’s NBC/NBCSN viewership peaked at 23.8 million viewers from 9:30-9:45 p.m. ET, for women’s alpine skiing on NBC and women’s figure skating short program on NBCSN.

Tuesday night’s NBC/NBCSN average of 20.1 million viewers dominated the TV competition – an 88% advantage over the combined 10.7 million primetime viewers for ABC, CBS and FOX. The NBC-only 17.6 million viewers in the 8-11 p.m. ET primetime window topped by 64% the other broadcast networks – marking the most dominant 2nd Tuesday of Winter Games coverage  ever (people meter history, since Sept. 1987).

 

NOTABLE…

  • Last night’s Total Audience Delivery provided an increase of 17% over the NBC broadcast viewership (TAD chart below) – marking the 11th consecutive night of double-digit TAD lift. NBC Olympics’ Total Audience Delivery measures broader consumption by calculating average minute viewing across broadcast, cable, and digital. NBC Sports Digital delivered an average minute audience of 221,000 for Monday night’s coverage.

 

  • NBC’s PyeongChang Olympics primetime broadcast last night (8-11:03 p.m. ET) averaged 17.5 million viewers and posted a 10.3/18 household rating. Viewership includes the West Coast primetime encore.

 

PRIMETIME TOTAL AUDIENCE DELIVERY FOR PYEONGCHANG OLYMPICS

Date Total Audience Delivery NBC-only viewership TAD Lift
Thur. 2/8 17.2 million 16.0 million 8%
Fri. 2/9* 28.3 million 27.8 million 2%
Sat. 2/10 24.2 million 21.4 million 13%
Sun. 2/11 26.0 million 22.7 million 15%
Mon. 2/12 22.3 million 20.3 million 10%
Tues. 2/13 22.6 million 20.5 million 10%
Wed. 2/14 19.2 million 17.0 million 13%
Thurs. 2/15 19.3 million 16.2 million 19%
Fri. 2/16 19.2 million 16.6 million 16%
Sat. 2/17 16.1 million 14.5 million 11%
Sun. 2/18 18.2 million 16.3 million 12%
Mon. 2/19 18.6 million 16.3 million 14%
Tues. 2/20 20.5 million 17.5 million 17%
Average 21.1 million 18.8 million 12%

*Opening Ceremony (no competition & no NBCSN side-by-side coverage)

 

WINTER OLYMPICS PRIMETIME TOTAL AUDIENCE DELIVERY

  PYC 2018 Sochi 2014** PYC 2018 Sochi 2014**
Day Viewership Viewership HH Rating HH Rating
Opening Thurs. 17.2 million 20.0 million 9.7 rating 11.3 rating
First Fri.* 28.3 million 31.7 million 14.9 rating 17.0 rating
First Sat. 24.2 million 25.1 million 13.1 rating 13.9 rating
First Sun. 26.0 million 26.3 million 14.2 rating 14.4 rating
First Mon. 22.3 million 22.4 million 12.7 rating 12.8 rating
First Tues. 22.6 million 23.7 million 13.0 rating 13.7 rating
First Wed. 19.2 million 20.8 million 11.2 rating 12.1 rating
Mid. Thurs. 19.3 million 22.9 million 11.4 rating 13.4 rating
Mid. Fri. 19.2 million 19.2 million 10.9 rating 11.0 rating
Mid. Sat. 16.1 million 17.1 million 9.0 rating 9.6 rating
Mid. Sun. 18.2 million 21.3 million 10.2 rating 12.1 rating
2nd Mon. 18.6 million 23.5 million 10.9 rating 13.8 rating
2nd Tues. 20.5 million 18.9 million 12.1 rating 11.2 rating
Average 21.1 million 22.7 million 11.9 rating 12.9 rating

*Opening Ceremony (no competition & no NBCSN side-by-side coverage)

 

**NOTE: The 2014 Sochi Olympics had no simultaneous live streaming and no competing primetime Olympic cable coverage. Both of those platforms are included in Total Audience Delivery for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.

 

TOP 10 METERED MARKETS FOR NBC/NBCSN TUESDAY PRIMETIME:

1. Denver 21.5/37
2. Minneapolis 21.1/37
3. Salt Lake City 20.9/38
4. Kansas City 20.1/30
5. Buffalo 18.6/29
6. Sacramento 18.5/32
7. Austin 18.0/30
8. San Diego 17.8/32
9. Milwaukee 17.2/28
10. Portland 17.1/29

Local metered market data represents NBC/NBCSN in primetime and includes the NBC West Coast encore and excludes sustainers.

ABOUT NBC OLYMPICS

A division of NBC Sports Group, NBC Olympics is responsible for producing, programming and promoting NBCUniversal’s Olympic Games coverage. It is renowned for its unsurpassed Olympic heritage, award-winning production, and ability to aggregate the largest audiences in U.S. television history. NBCUniversal owns the U.S. media rights on all platforms to all Olympic Games through 2032.

— PYEONGCHANG 2018 —