Salt Lake City leads all U.S. markets for NBC's primetime London Games telecasts through five nights with a 27.1 local rating. The market, which hosted the Winter Olympics 10 years ago, also led all U.S. markets during the 17 nights during the '10 Vancouver Games with a 21.9 local rating and tied for first with Denver during the '08 Beijing Games with a 23.1 rating. K.C. ranks second for the London coverage with a 25.4 rating. The market did not rank in the top 10 during Vancouver or Beijing. Denver (25.2), Milwaukee (25.1) and San Diego (25.0) round out the top five for London. Columbus leads all Eastern time zone markets with a 24.5 rating. Milwaukee topped all markets through the first five nights in '08 with a 23.2 local rating (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
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NBC LOCAL MARKET RATINGS THROUGH
FIVE NIGHTS OF LONDON GAMES
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RANK
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MARKET (SIZE IN U.S.) |
RATING
|
|
1
|
Salt Lake City (33) |
27.1
|
|
2
|
K.C. (31) |
25.4
|
|
3
|
Denver (17) |
25.2
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|
4
|
Milwaukee (34) |
25.1
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|
5
|
San Diego (28) |
25.0
|
|
6
|
Columbus (32) |
24.5
|
|
7
|
Indianapolis (26) |
24.3
|
|
8
|
Norfolk (43) |
23.8
|
|
9
|
Richmond (57) |
23.6
|
|
10
|
West Palm Beach (38) |
23.0
|
|
t11
|
DC (8) |
22.9
|
|
t11
|
Oklahoma City (44) |
22.9
|
|
t13
|
Minneapolis-St. Paul (15) |
22.6
|
|
t13
|
Austin (47) |
22.6
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|
15
|
Albuquerque-Santa Fe (45) |
22.5
|
|
16
|
Ft. Myers-Naples (62) |
22.3
|
|
t17
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Sacramento (20) |
22.2
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|
t17
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St. Louis (21) |
22.2
|
|
t17
|
Portland (22) |
22.2
|
|
t17
|
Nashville (29) |
22.2
|
| |
|
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LOCAL INTEREST: Journal Broadcast Group Exec VP Steve Wexler said he is not sure why Milwaukee ranks as high for Olympic viewership as it does, but notes the "appetite for it is enormous." Wexler speculated the "tradition of Olympic athletes" from the Milwaukee area factors into the interest. In Milwaukee, Duane Dudek noted WTMJ-NBC, owned by JBG, "didn't send any reporters to London and hasn't sent any to the Games for the past eight years." Wexler said that it is "a matter of expense vs. return." Wexler "would not reveal how many local commercial availabilities NBC gives WTMJ-TV during the Olympics." But he said that there are "more during the day, for which the station charges advertisers less, and fewer during prime time, for which the station charges more." Dudek noted WTMJ is "using the extra viewer eyeballs to its promotional advantage, with a series of new 'image' ads for its newscasts that are designed to 'remind people who we are and what we do here when the Olympics are not on'" (
JSONLINE.com, 7/31). In Portland, Daniel Mediate noted KGW-NBC "has experienced a huge boom to its ratings" due to the Olympics. The station on Monday drew a 21.9 rating; the "typical daily rating from the month May was 4.5" (
Portland OREGONIAN, 8/1).
