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Olympics

NBC Tuesday Night Olympic Audience Peaks With Shaun White

NBC’s Olympic coverage on Tuesday night peaked around U.S. snowboarder Shaun White securing his third Gold Medal. NBC and NBCSN saw a peak audience of 28.2 million viewers from 10:00-10:15pm ET, as White was making his final run in the halfpipe. NBC Digital also had 445,000 concurrent streams for the halfpipe finals, marking the second-best stream for any Winter Games event on record -- behind only the Canada-U.S. men’s hockey semifinal from the ’14 Sochi Games. Overall, NBC Sports had a total audience delivery of 22.7 million viewers on Tuesday in primetime, with NBC accounting for 20.5 million viewers. While both figures are down from the same night in Sochi, the figures are higher than what NBC drew in primetime on the first Tuesday of the ‘10 Vancouver Games, which were primarily live in the U.S. NBC Digital had an average minute audience of 321,000 viewers on Tuesday in primetime as well. Salt Lake City was again the top market for primetime coverage on Tuesday (24.8 local rating). The home of the '02 Games has now led NBC’s primetime Olympic coverage on five of six nights to date. Denver was No. 2 on Tuesday at a 23.7 local rating, followed by K.C. at a 22.2 rating. After six nights of Olympic coverage, NBC is seeing a total audience delivery average of 23.6 million viewers, while the NBC broadcast channel alone is averaging 21.6 million. Both of those figures are down from the 25.1 million viewers NBC was averaging four years ago at the same point, and down from 26.4 million viewers eight years ago (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor). ADWEEK's A.J. Katz writes despite the viewership decline from Sochi, NBC "appears to be confident right now" (ADWEEK.com, 2/14).

WINTER OLYMPICS PRIMETIME VIEWERSHIP ON NBC
NIGHT
DAY
TURIN ('06)
VANCOUVER ('10)
SOCHI ('14)
PYEONGCHANG ('18)
TAD* ('18)
Bonus
Thurs.
n/a
n/a
20,016
15,995
17,249
Opening
Ceremony**
Fri.
22,200
32,641
31,690
27,837
28,286
2
Sat.
23,239
26,189
25,115
21,394
24,159
3
Sun.
23,244
26,372
26,323
22,676
26,201
4
Mon.
21,069
25,224
22,395
20,295
22,341
5
Tue.
18,405
20,330
23,722
20,500
22,600
AVG.
21,649
26,421
25,092
21,563
23,600
NOTES: * = TAD number includes broadcast, cable and digital viewing in primetime. ** = Pyeongchang was first time Opening Ceremony was streamed live (hours before NBC telecast).
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NBC Primetime Olympic Audience

DON'T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB: In N.Y., Hannah Withiam notes NBC's Bode Miller last night "apologized repeatedly" after on-air comments he made during the women’s giant slalom "about a racer’s relationship having an effect" on her performance. The recent struggles of Austria’s Anna Veith was brought up, and Miller suggested her marriage in '16 "may have contributed to the decline." NBC's Dan Hicks noted that Veith, the '14 overall World Cup champion, "hasn’t been the same since tearing her ACL" before the '16 season. Miller said, "The knee is certainly an issue. I want to point out she also got married. And it’s historically very challenging to race on a World Cup with a family or after being married. ... Not to blame the spouses, but I just want to toss it out there that it may be her husband’s fault." Miller later in the telecast said, "It was an ill-advised attempt at a joke. ... I know the support team you need. I relied on my friends and family, and if you have the luxury of relying on a spouse I know they’re inevitably your biggest supported, and on Valentine’s Day, I did not mean to throw spouses under the bus." Miller "alluded he was speaking from experience on the strain a marriage can have on a skier competing on the World Cup circuit" (N.Y. POST, 2/15). In DC, Jerry Brewer noted there has been a "lot of remorse in the first week" of the Games, with Miller "mansplaining" Veith's struggles being the latest example (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 2/15).

GOING SILENT: The AP's David Bauder notes NBC "avoided any awkwardness" in primetime last night about the sexual misconduct allegations against White by "staying away" from the subject (AP, 2/15). In DC, Callum Borchers noted NBC "seems to have decided that the Olympics are neither the time nor the place for a hard look at sexual misconduct." White during an appearance on "Today" yesterday "appeared to be admitting to something" regarding the allegations made by the former drummer in his band, but the net determined the show was not the place "to grill him." The net has devoted "little time" to the Larry Nassar scandal during its primetime broadcasts, keeping the focus "on more-uplifting Olympic themes such as perseverance and patriotism." The net "has not completely overlooked misconduct," as evidenced by an online report about the Olympics' "addition of designated offices for fielding harassment and assault complaints during the Games." However, while sexual misconduct is "having a cultural moment right now," it is not having an "Olympic moment on NBC" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 2/14). ESPN's Tony Kornheiser said he did not learn anything about the claims against White "from the coverage I watched" on NBC ("PTI," ESPN, 2/14).

EDUCATING THE MASSES: In Colorado Springs, Paul Klee gives a "shout-out to the NBC broadcast crews that help dummies ... understand" some lesser-known sports. Viewers knew New Zealand speedskater Peter Michael "would blast" his final lap" in the men's 5,000 meter because NBC's Joey Cheek "had just spent the previous segment telling us how speedskaters had been blasting their last laps all day." Additionally, NBC luge announcers Leigh Diffey and Duncan Kennedy are leaving viewers "suitably educated." Klee: "What they're doing is hard" (Colorado Springs GAZETTE, 2/15). In Rochester, Leo Roth writes under the header, "Luge, Curling, Bobsledding Oh My, The Winter Games Are Must-See TV" (ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE, 2/15).

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