NBC is averaging a 15.5 rating (27.9 million viewers) through nine nights of primetime Rio Games coverage, which remains the net’s lowest Summer Olympic figure since the time-zone-challenged Sydney Games in ’00 (14.6). The 15.5 rating is down 18% from an 18.9 four years ago in London. Saturday night on NBC drew a 14.2 rating (25.5 million viewers) from 8:30-11:08pm ET, down from a 15.9 rating four years ago. NBC peaked at 32.7 million viewers from 10:00-10:15pm as Michael Phelps swam what is thought to be his final Olympic race (the 4x100m medley relay), winning Gold. The Total Audience Delivery for NBC’s live coverage on Saturday night (broadcast+cable+digital) was a 15.0 rating (26.8 million viewers). Meanwhile, NBC on Friday night from 8:00-11:08pm posted a 13.7 rating (24.0 million viewers), down from a 15.9 rating during the London Games and the first time since the Opening Ceremony that a night has dipped below the rating seen during the Sydney Games. NBC on Friday did get a 15.0 rating (26.0 million viewers) based on Total Audience Delivery, boosted by NBCSN’s best-ever weekday viewership. NBCSN on Friday from 8:00am-12:00am featured coverage of the U.S. women's soccer team losing in the quarterfinals to Sweden, as well coverage of the U.S. men’s and women’s basketball teams. NBC on Thursday night from 8:00-11:57pm drew a 17.8 rating (31.2 million viewers), down from a 21.1 rating four years ago. The net finished with an 18.9 rating (33.0 million viewers) based on Total Audience Delivery (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
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PRIMETIME SUMMER OLYMPIC RATINGS ON NBC
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DAY
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RIO
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LONDON
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BEIJING
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ATHENS
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SYDNEY
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ATLANTA
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Opening Ceremony
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Fri.
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13.9
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21.0
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18.8
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14.6
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16.2
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23.6
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Night 2
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Sat.
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11.4
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15.8
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13.9
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11.8
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13.1
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17.2
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Night 3
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Sun.
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16.1
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19.8
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18.1
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15.4
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14.6
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22.9
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Night 4
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Mon.
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16.4
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18.0
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17.6
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16.6
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13.8
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22.9
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Night 5
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Tues.
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18.9
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21.8
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20.0
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18.3
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15.5
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27.2
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Night 6
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Wed.
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15.1
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17.9
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16.7
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17.3
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14.6
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22.4
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Night 7
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Thurs.
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17.8
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21.1
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17.9
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19.3
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14.9
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26.8
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Night 8
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Fri.
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13.7
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16.2
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15.2
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14.4
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14.9
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17.9
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Night 9
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Sat.
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14.2
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15.9
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17.6
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13.6
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13.3
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19.4
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9-Night Avg.
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15.5
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18.9
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17.4
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15.8
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14.6
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22.3
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SHAPING THE MESSAGE: NBC Sports Group Chair Mark Lazarus yesterday said as media habits have developed since the '12 London Games, the net has evolved and is "leading with some of the ways" it has structured programming in regards to the Rio Games. Lazarus: "Everyone is talking about these Olympics versus London. London was an A+ and Rio is an A. It’s been really good for us." He added, "We are winning gold in Rio. [Tonight] we will have had 50 straight nights of Olympic coverage that have won primetime. It goes back to the middle of the Vancouver Games. The Olympics are a powerful engine." Lazarus admitted, "When you take our Total Audience Delivery, it is still a little bit behind London’s overall delivery." But Lazarus said, "More people are consuming these Games than any before. So we feel very confident in our success here, and the fact that we have these Games for a long time. We have all of the rights to be able to exploit this hugely powerful event across every platform known today or invented tomorrow." SI.com's Richard Deitsch noted Lazarus brought up the time zone difference when asked whether NBC will use the same approach at the '18 PyeongChang and '20 Tokyo Games. Lazarus: "That will have a bearing on what we do in primetime." He said the women’s downhill, for example, "could run at noon" and would then air in "primetime live" in the U.S. Lazarus: "The time zone is an interesting one. Figure skating is a big piece of our winter planning and we are hopeful that they will have an afternoon program that will serve us live in primetime" (
SI.com, 8/14). Meanwhile, the WALL STREET JOURNAL's Flint & Vranica note of "particular concern" to NBC is a roughly 30% drop among viewers ages 18-34, a demo advertisers "pay a premium to reach." The "lower-than-expected ratings show that even an institution as big as the Olympics isn’t immune to changing media consumption habits and the abundance of choice viewers have on television and online" (
WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/15).
BE KIND, REWIND: In Seattle, Geoff Baker writes NBC's Rio coverage "involves the tried, and largely proven, formula of offering viewers prerecorded, stylishly packaged footage." However, the "shortcomings of NBC’s approach are particularly evident in Seattle, where viewers can switch to CBC affiliate CBUT in Vancouver." The CBC offers "more live Olympic event coverage throughout the day, with packaged features leaning on journalistic content as opposed to NBC’s violin-themed profiles of mainly American athletes hugging their children." It is "easier for Canada’s network to have live coverage, a focus on athletes from all nations and often superior journalism that goes beyond family schmaltz when there’s a taxpayer safety net covering any viewership shortfall." For NBC, it is about "getting it right and maximizing ad dollars," which "might mean the difference between network executives keeping or losing their jobs." However, early low ratings suggest the net "might have overestimated viewer tolerance for pre-packaged coverage" (
SEATTLE TIMES, 8/15).
TIME TO SHAKE THINGS UP? The AP's David Bauder wondered if NBC's primetime strategy is "growing stale" amid following ratings. The net typically focuses on a handful of sports -- swimming & diving, track & field, gymnastics, beach volleyball -- to the "virtual exclusion of all others." It is a "mix of live and 'plausibly live,' or tape-delayed coverage that allows action to unfold as it happens." A narrative style "humanizes otherwise unknown athletes." But NBC's Olympics operation "is a deeply experienced and talented team," and their experience "makes it unlikely NBC will blow up the formula for prime-time to try something completely new." Univ. of Alabama sports media professor Andy Billings said that given the "rapid change in the way people watch TV in an on-demand world ... NBC may have to consider changes more quickly than it expects" (AP, 8/14). SI.com's Deitsch wrote one of the "most frustrating things about NBC’s primetime coverage is the network’s adherence to narrative." There is "no event outside of swimming that runs from beginning to end, which is jarring." Deitsch: "Too often you are watching an entertainment show, with some sports mixed in. It should get better with track and field [this] week" (SI.com, 8/12).
WAY OF THE WORLD: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir noted NBC's live streaming through last Thursday had reached 1.28 billion minutes -- "more than in all" of the London Games. The minutes "have helped NBC add the equivalent of a few hundred thousand viewers to a prime-time broadcast audience that has fallen" since '12. However, NBC’s streaming is still "less than halfway to the 2.6 billion live minutes that ESPN streamed" during the '14 World Cup. Streaming has become an "essential way to view sports and entertainment as people change the way they consume media" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/13).
REPORT CARD: Syracuse Univ. Bleier Center for Television & Popular Culture Dir Robert Thompson said he would give NBC's coverage so far a "solid B," as the net does a "very credible job of putting on a program that will be enjoyed by as many people as possible within the limitations of having to be interrupted by so many ad breaks." USA TODAY's Erik Brady notes Thompson "awards an A for NBC’s technical wizardry in Rio and no better than B-minus for its commentators." Thompson: "They get these great close-ups. They rarely miss something. They have cameras everywhere. With gymnasts, you see the complex ways in which the human body can move. It’s stunningly beautiful, like sculpture" (USA TODAY, 8/15).
REALITY CHECK: In Philadelphia, Jonathan Takiff wrote "kinks with the virtual reality version of the Rio Olympics have been driving tech lovers crazy." Beach volleyball matches are "now fully viewable" in VR fashion, instead of "just the highlight segments that the quirky NBC Sports app was parsing out before." And the quality and positioning of VR cameras "scoping out Rio arenas with wraparound lenses haven't been that great" (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 8/14).
