‘Olympics’ averaged 20.6 million viewers; outperformed everyone

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Saturdaty night up 25 PERCENT FROM COMPARABLE NIGHT IN 2006; DOMINATES PRIMETIME: Saturday night’s coverage drew 20.6 million viewers, four
million more than the comparable night at the 2006 Winter Games (16.5 million, up 25%).


185 million people have watched the Olympics on the networks of NBC Universal through 16 days. This surpasses total games viewership for Torino, Nagano, Albertville

20.6 Million Average Viewers Saturday Night on NBC in Primetime, Four From Comparable Saturday at 2006 Winter Games

65 Million People Watched the Olympics Saturday on the Networks of NBC Universal, 12 Million More Than the Comparable Day at the 2006 Winter Games.

185 million Americans have watched the Vancouver Olympics on the networks of NBC Universal through 16 days of the Games; four million more than watched the first 16 days of the 2006 Winter Games (181 million), according to data available today from The
Nielsen Company.

With 185 million viewers, the Vancouver Games (with still one day remaining) move past the Torino Games, Nagano Games and Albertville Games. When the final viewership numbers are available tomorrow, Vancouver will likely surpass the Salt Lake City Games (187 million) and will trail only the *tabloid-fueled Lillehammer Games as the most-watched Winter Olympics in history.

MOST WATCHED WINTER OLYMPICS IN HISTORY:
1. Lillehammer, 1994 204 million (Entire Games)
2. Salt Lake City, 2002 187 million (Entire Games)
3. Vancouver, 2010 185 million (through 16 days – One day
remaining)
T4. Torino, 2006 184 million (Entire Games)
T4. Albertville, 1992 184 million (Entire Games)
T4. Nagano, 1998 184 million (Entire Games)

*Fueled by the tabloid coverage of the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding
scandal.

OLYMPICS DOMINATE PRIMETIME COMETITION: Through 16 nights the Olympics on NBC are drawing more than two million more viewers than the other
three major networks combined (10 percent advantage).  The Vancouver Olympics are averaging 24.5 million viewers in primetime, more than doubling Fox, tripling CBS and quadrupling ABC over that span. 

OLYMPICS ON NBC 24.5 million
Fox/CBS/ABC combined: 22.2 million (10 percent advantage)
Fox 9.6 million (155 percent advantage)
CBS 7.2 million (240 percent advantage)
ABC 5.4 million (354 percent advantage)

SATURDAY NIGHT UP 25 PERCENT FROM COMPARABLE NIGHT IN 2006; DOMINATES PRIMETIME: Saturday night’s coverage drew 20.6 million viewers, four
million more than the comparable night at the 2006 Winter Games (16.5 million, up 25%).

* Last night the Olympics averaged 20.6 million viewers, more than six million more than the combined delivery of the other three major networks (ABC, CBS, Fox: 14.0 million), beating the three together by 47 percent. 

16-DAY AVERAGE IS 4 MILLION MORE THAN 2006: The 24.5 million average viewers through 16 nights of the Vancouver Games is four million more and 19 percent higher than the average viewership of the 2006 Winter Games through 16 nights (20.6 million). 

The national household rating of 11.7/21 for Saturday night is up two full ratings points and 21 percent higher than the comparable night at the 2006 Winter Games (9.7/17).  The 13.9/23 average household rating-to-date is 13 percent higher than 2006 (12.3/20). 

(source: information provided by NBC)