Team USA Women's Hockey Gold Medal Is Most Watched Late Night Show In NBCSN History
By: Tori Hartshorn Feb. 22, 2018
Team USA's thrilling shootout victory over Canada in the women's hockey gold medal game on Wednesday ranks as the most watched late-night program in NBCSN history (since 2003).
The hockey game registered a Total Audience Delivery average of 3.7 million viewers, which included a live NBC simulcast of overtime and the shootout, as well as live streaming by NBC Sports Digital. The NBCSN-only telecast delivered 2.9 million viewers, which is the largest audience ever for the network in the 11 p.m.-2:15 a.m. ET late-night window.
In addition, more than 525,000 uniques watched the live stream of the U.S.-Canada women's gold medal game to rank as NBC Sports Digital's fifth-largest hockey audience ever (behind only four games from the Sochi Olympics, which featured more streaming-friendly morning and afternoon ET game times).
NBC's Wednesday primetime PyeongChang Olympic telecast was by far the most watched show of the night - marking the 70th consecutive night that an NBC Olympics presentation has topped primetime. This streak began with Day 14 of the 2010 Vancouver Games.
Last night's NBC/NBCSN viewership peaked at 17.9 million viewers from 10-10:15 p.m. ET, for women's alpine skiing.
NOTABLE...
- Wednesday night's NBC/NBCSN average of 16.3 million viewers dominated the TV competition - a 63% advantage over the combined 10.0 million primetime viewers for ABC, CBS and FOX. The NBC-only 14.1 million viewers in the 8-11 p.m. ET primetime window topped by 41% the other broadcast networks - marking the most dominant 2nd Wednesday of Winter Games coverage since the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.
- Last night's Total Audience Delivery provided an increase of 16% over the NBC broadcast viewership (TAD chart below) - marking the 12th 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 164,000 for Wednesday night's coverage.
- NBC's PyeongChang Olympics primetime broadcast last night (8-11 p.m. ET) averaged 14.1 million viewers and posted an 8.3/15 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% |
| Wed. 2/21 | 16.4 million | 14.1 million | 16% |
| Average | 20.8 million | 18.5 million | 11% |
*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 |
| 2nd Wed. | 16.4 million | 20.2 million | 9.7 rating | 12.2 rating |
| Average | 20.8 million | 22.6 million | 11.7 rating | 12.8 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 WEDNESDAY PRIMETIME:
| 1. Salt Lake City | 18.8/36 |
| T2. Denver | 17.6/33 |
| T2. Minneapolis | 17.6/32 |
| 4. Kansas City | 15.6/24 |
| 5. Milwaukee | 14.9/24 |
| 6. Austin | 14.2/25 |
| 7. Ft. Myers | 14.1/23 |
| 8. Buffalo | 14.0/22 |
| 9. West Palm Beach | 13.8/21 |
| 10. Portland | 13.6/24 |
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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