NBC Averages 4.2 Million Viewers For U.S. Olympic Trials

By Austin Karp, Research Associate

Telecasts of the U.S. Olympic trials wrapped up this past weekend with coverage on MSNBC of boxing from Houston. Among the 33 trials telecasts, NBC's coverage of the swimming trials on July 6 was the most-viewed telecast with 6.5 million viewers. For 12 total telecasts, NBC averaged a 2.7 Nielsen rating and 4.2 million viewers. On NBC, for three gymnastics events (one men’s, two women’s), the net averaged a 2.9 rating and 4.6 million viewers, while the four swimming events averaged a 3.1 rating (5.1 million viewers) and four track and field telecasts averaged a 2.8 rating (4.4 million viewers). On USA, which had the majority of its eight telecasts in prime time, the net averaged a 1.3 coverage area rating (1.6 million viewers), with its four swimming events averaging a 1.4 coverage rating (1.8 million viewers) and four track and field events averaging a 1.2 coverage rating (1.5 million viewers). MSNBC, for 13 telecasts, averaged a 0.3 coverage rating and 256,000 viewers.

NOTES: * = The June 29 telecast on NBC alternated between the swimming trials and the track and field trials. The NBC average listed above for both sports includes that telecast. ** = rebroadcast of NBC's coverage from June 22.