Mixed News On NBC’s Olympics Rating Among Key Demos

After reporting yesterday that NBC’s average Nielsen rating for the Athens Olympics among adults 18-34 was up 9% from the ’00 Sydney Games, USA TODAY today reports that NBC’s average rating for adults 18-49 was down 3% (USA TODAY, 9/1). Still, from August 23-29 NBC earned a 7.3/21 for its primetime broadcasts, which were comprised entirely of Olympic coverage, among the 18-49 demo. The rating "beat the combined ratings of ABC, CBS and Fox by 25%" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 9/1).

A HELPING HAND: DAILY VARIETY’s Pamela McClintock notes the Olympics helped NBC’s “Nightly News” “trounce the competition” last week. “Nightly News” garnered 10 million viewers, compared to 7.5 million for ABC’s “World News Tonight” and 6.9 million for CBS’ “Evening News” (DAILY VARIETY, 9/1). DAILY VARIETY’s Zachary Pincus-Roth reports NBC Universal’s “The Jane Pauley Show” earned a 2.4/7 weighted metered-market Nielsen rating for its debut yesterday, “the highest debut for a” syndicated talk show since “Dr. Phil” in September ’02. Though the debut came in August, “when many daytime viewers are on vacation,” and the show “got a boost from NBC affils promoting it during the Olympics” (DAILY VARIETY, 9/1).