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Mountain Song: Salt Lake City, Denver Lead Local NBC Rio Ratings Despite Tape Delays

Despite tape-delayed primetime coverage during the Rio Games, two markets in the Mountain Time Zone led the way for NBC’s coverage. Salt Lake City averaged a 20.4 local rating for 17 nights of Rio coverage, regaining the title of top U.S. market for the Olympics. The Utah market fell just below Minneapolis-St. Paul during the ’14 Sochi Games. The 20.4 rating is ahead of Salt Lake City’s 19.0 rating in ’14, but below the 25.0 rating it drew in ’12 for the London Games. Denver ranked No. 2 for Rio coverage with a 19.1 local rating. Denver ranked No. 3 in ’14 and No. 4 in ’12. The top five markets for Rio were rounded out by Indianapolis, Austin and Columbus.

U.S. LOCAL MARKET RATINGS FOR NBC'S PRIMETIME OLYMPIC COVERAGE
MARKET
RIO '16
SOCHI '14
LONDON '12
VANCOUVER '10
Salt Lake City
20.4
19.0
25.0
21.9
Denver
19.1
18.3
22.1
21.3
Indianapolis
18.1
16.0
20.9
15.7
Austin
18.0
n/a
19.7
16.8
Columbus
17.8
n/a
21.9
17.9
West Palm Beach
17.5
n/a
20.8
17.8
San Diego
17.2
n/a
20.8
17.8
Richmond
17.2
n/a
20.6
15.7
Norfolk
17.0
n/a
21.2
n/a
Minneapolis-St. Paul
17.0
19.4
19.9
19.1
Ft. Myers-Naples
17.0
16.5
19.4
17.0
St. Louis
17.0
n/a
19.0
18.4
DC
16.9
n/a
19.6
n/a
K.C.
16.4
16.6
22.5
17.6
Nashville
16.3
n/a
19.4
16.9
Sacramento
16.2
14.4
19.6
15.7
Houston
16.1
n/a
16.7
n/a
Cincinnati
16.0
n/a
17.7
16.3
Albuquerque-Santa Fe
15.9
14.9
20.3
n/a
Buffalo
15.9
15.4
16.6
n/a
 

HIGHS & LOWS: Houston and Buffalo saw viewership drop from ’12, but jumped up the board from four years ago to rank among the top 20 markets this year. Houston ranked 45th among all metered markets during the London Games, but ranked 17th for Rio. Buffalo was No. 48 four years ago and finished in a tie for 19th in Rio. Meanwhile, K.C. was No. 2 among all markets during the ’12 London Games, but fell to No. 14 for Rio. Milwaukee also saw a sharp drop after ranking No. 3 in ’12. The Wisconsin market fell completely out of the top 20 for Rio coverage (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).

TWO OF A KIND: In Houston, David Barron reports the presence of local athletes Simone Biles and Simone Manuel "kept viewership steady" for KPRC during the Games. The station on three separate nights "had more than 700,000 viewers in prime time, and each featured a Simone." The high-viewership mark came Aug. 11, when 841,000 people tuned in as Biles "won vault gold and Manuel won gold in the 100-meter freestyle." Biles' Gold Medal-win in the all-around final on Aug. 9 drew 820,000 viewers, while the U.S. women's gymnastics team finals Aug. 7 attracted 726,000 viewers (CHRON.com, 8/23).

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