Lindsey Vonn's Final Olympic Downhill Leads NBC Olympics To 8% Increase Over Comparable Sochi Olympics Telecast
By: Tori Hartshorn Feb. 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.
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