NBCSN Delivers Its Most-Watched Week In Primetime
By: Tori Hartshorn Feb. 19, 2018
On the strength of its first-ever live nightly Winter Olympics coverage, NBCSN last night completed the most-watched, seven-day primetime stretch in the network's history with an average of 2.4 million viewers, according to live plus same day fast national data released today by Nielsen. In addition, NBCSN is the most-watched cable network in primetime from last Saturday, Feb. 10 through Thursday, Feb. 15 (latest data available).
Since last Saturday, Feb. 10, NBCSN's primetime coverage has featured live figure skating, snowboard slopestyle, and Team USA women's hockey, as well as cross country skiing, ski jumping, curling, biathlon, and luge.
Friday's NBC Olympics' primetime coverage delivered a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) average of 19.2 million viewers, according to live plus same day fast national data released today by Nielsen, and digital data from Adobe Analytics.
The NBC/NBCSN average last night of 18.9 million viewers dominated the TV competition more than doubling the combined 8.1 million primetime viewers for ABC, CBS and FOX. NBC Sports Digital delivered an average minute audience of 213,000 for Friday night's coverage.
NOTABLE...
- Last night's Total Audience Delivery provided an increase of 16% over the NBC broadcast viewership (TAD chart below) - marking the seventh 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.
- Last night's NBC/NBCSN viewership peaked at 21.9 million viewers from 10-10:15 p.m. ET, highlighted by women's alpine SKIING ON NBC and men's free skate FIGURE SKATING on NBCSN.
- NBC's PyeongChang Olympics full primetime broadcast last night (8-11:23 p.m. ET) averaged 16.6 million viewers and posted a 9.4/18 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% |
| Average | 22.2 million | 19.9 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 |
| Average | 22.2 million | 23.7 million | 12.4 rating | 13.4 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 FRIDAY PRIMETIME:
| 1. Salt Lake City | 21.1/40 |
| 2. Denver | 19.6/38 |
| T3. Milwaukee | 17.6/30 |
| T3. Austin | 17.6/33 |
| T5. West Palm Beach | 16.5/27 |
| T5. Minneapolis | 16.5/32 |
| 7. San Diego | 16.3/33 |
| 8. Seattle | 16.1/31 |
| T9. Sacramento | 16.0/31 |
| T9. Fort Myers | 16.0/27 |
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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