Usain Bolt's Record-Setting Win Not Enough To Boost NBC's Primetime Olympic Rating

Gold Medal wins for Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and U.S. gymnast Simone Biles were not enough to help NBC’s primetime rating on Sunday. The broadcast net drew a 14.9 rating (26.7 million viewers) from 7:00-11:00pm ET, which is likely the lowest-rated second Sunday ever for the Olympics. The audience on Sunday night peaked at 34.9 million viewers from 9:15-9:30pm, as Bolt captured his record-setting third straight win in the 100 meters. Even using NBC’s Total Audience Delivery (broadcast+cable+digital), Sunday night only drew a 15.8 rating (28.1 million viewers), which puts it even with the NBC-only number from the ’04 Athens Games. Through 10 nights of coverage, NBC alone is averaging a 15.4 rating (27.8 million viewers), marking the Summer Games’ lowest figure for the network since the ’00 Sydney Games (14.7 rating). While down from the previous three Summer Games, NBC’s Olympic primetime figure continues to far outpace broadcast TV competitors in all key metrics (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).

STREAM DREAM: In L.A., Stephen Battaglio notes NBC’s coverage is "drawing audiences three times bigger than ABC, CBS and Fox combined." But while Olympic coverage "remains formidable, the seismic shift toward online viewing has kept the Nielsen numbers from being as big as NBC hoped." NBC execs "aren’t tossing in the towel just yet on this year’s Games." NBC Sports Group Chair Mark Lazarus "described the Rio Games as 'the most economically successful' in history, factoring in the audiences for coverage" on NBCU’s cable networks and NBC’s streaming app. Online users through Sunday "have streamed 1.86 billion minutes" of NBC’s Rio coverage, "topping the combined number" for the London and '14 Sochi Games. The growth online "reflects the dramatic change in viewing habits over the last four years, making even a typically surefire TV event as the Olympics vulnerable to how viewers are consuming content." Media-buying service Amplifi US VP & Dir of Programming Research Billie Gold said that the drop in TV viewing among viewers 18-49 (-25% compared with '12) can "be attributed to the availability of Olympic content online both through NBC and social media" (L.A. TIMES, 8/16).

GIRL POWER: The AP's David Bauder reported women "have dominated the screen on NBC in the evening"during the first half of the Games. Through Saturday night, 58.5% of competition time on NBC's primetime telecasts "involved women's sports," with 41.5% devoted to men. Univ. of Alabama professor Andy Billings said dating back to the '94 Lillehammer Games, London four years ago "was the only competition where women got more airtime than the men -- and even that didn't match the imbalance" of Rio so far. Still, NBC "has been among media outlets criticized for incidents of alleged sexism regarding the Olympics." But NBC Olympics Exec Producer Jim Bell said, "We take great pride in knowing that no one devotes more broadcast network prime-time coverage to women's sports than NBC." Bauder noted much of the disparity can be explained by U.S. women's dominance in "some of the sports that NBC follows most closely in its primetime telecast," including gymnastics and beach volleyball (AP, 8/15).

WELCOME BACK: Golf Channel on Sunday from 12:00-3:12pm drew a 1.0 rating (1.6 million viewers) for live coverage of the final day of men’s Olympic golf. That figure is the net’s best performance in that Sunday window since the ’12 final round of the PGA Tour AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which featured Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. From 1:12-2:49pm, both NBC and Golf Channel aired coverage, combining for a 5.6 rating (8.8 million viewers) during that window. That figure would be the second-best 90-minute audience for golf this year, outside of The Masters on CBS. Golf Channel on Sunday peaked at a 1.2 rating (1.85 million viewers) from 2:30-2:45pm, as Justin Rose was capturing the Gold Medal (NBC).

SAND STORM: The AP's Bauder writes the "on-target work" by beach volleyball analyst Kevin Wong and play-by-play announcer Chris Marlowe was on display during the U.S. team of Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena's beach volleyball quarterfinal loss yesterday to Brazil's Bruno Schmidt and Alison Cerutti. A stiff wind "played havoc with conditions, and the NBC crew kept viewers informed on how that affected the match both physically and strategically" (AP, 8/16). Meanwhile, ESPN's Michael Wilbon said beach volleyball has "jumped the shark." He said, "They’re great at what they do, but NBC puts it on all the time” (“PTI,” ESPN, 8/15).

"ANIMAL PRACTICE," ANYONE? ADWEEK's Jason Lynch noted NBC has been "taking advantage of all the extra eyeballs on its network during its Rio Olympics coverage, by running several promos for its fall shows." NBC Entertainment President of Marketing & Digital Len Fogge said that the net's approach "is similar to previous Olympics." He said, "We look at what our priorities are. Start with The Voice, and go to the new shows (Timeless, This is Us and The Good Place), and then the sophomore shows that are in new, key time periods (Superstore, Blindspot and Chicago Med), and then all the rest. I think most shows are represented in the Olympics." Lynch noted "The Voice" and "Superstore" also "have more urgent promotional needs for NBC, as both shows will be airing special previews following Olympics coverage later this week" (ADWEEK.com, 8/15).

NOT-SO-GUILTY PLEASURE: On Long Island, Neil Best notes in recent years, many sports fans and media members "have taken a perverse pride in advertising a lack of interest in the Games, dismissing them as an overly packaged reality show for non-avid fans, full of strange sports from strange lands." But Best asked, "Is that really a bad thing for two weeks in the doggiest dog days of August?" Many avid fans "seem to be coming around to a broader view of the Games, especially in a fractured era." The Olympics remain a "quirky lark that even avid fans ought to embrace every couple of years from the comfort of our living rooms, aided by NBC’s (heavy) guiding hand." The ratings "have been down from London four years ago, but compared to everything else on American TV other than the NFL playoffs, the Olympics are a massive, spectacular, undeniable hit" (NEWSDAY, 8/16). In Tampa, Tom Jones writes the Olympics "unify us." Jones: "They inspire us. But mostly, they allow us to take a break from all the ills and ill wills of this world." While we "continue to deal with real problems in real places," there is something "comforting about sitting down each night, tuning out the world and tuning in to the Olympics." It is the "ultimate escape" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 8/16).