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February 21, 2014
 

SKEDBALL: Winter Olympic Ratings Update

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Written by: Mitch Metcalf
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Last night’s Winter Olympic coverage on NBC in primetime averaged a 4.9 adult 18-49 rating from 8:00-11:00 pm, but that rating increases to a 5.2 if the 8:00-8:30 half hour is excluded for being free of national commercials.  Either way, it’s a disaster for a night containing the finals of Ladies’ Figure Skating, THE marquee event of the Winter Games.  The same night in Vancouver 2010 was a 6.1 rating, while Turin 2006 was 8.1 and Salt Lake City was a monumental 15.9 rating.  The steady decline in ratings for this night is a function of the collapse of American figure skating.  Last night also featured Men’s Ski Cross (with a Gold-Silver-Bronze sweep by France) and Women’s Halfpipe Skiing.

Through last night, Sochi is now down to a 5.8 adult 18-49 rating in primetime (whether last night was a 4.9 or a 5.2), now more than half a rating point behind Turin at this point (6.4) and still just under a full point behind Vancouver (6.7).  It’s all downhill from here.  Sochi could end up with a disastrous 5.6 or even 5.5 average for all primetime coverage.

Sochi Winter Olympic Track thru Thu 2014 02 20



About the Author

Mitch Metcalf
MITCH METCALF has been tracking every US film release of over 500 screens (over 2300 movies and counting) since the storied weekend of May 20, 1994, when Maverick and Beverly Hills Cop 3 inspired countless aficionados to devote their lives to the art of cinema. Prior to that, he studied Politics and Economics at Princeton in order to prepare for his dream of working in television. He has been Head of West Coast Research at ABC, then moved to NBC in 2000 and became Head of Scheduling for 11 years.