NBC’s Olympic Ratings Still Ahead of 2006

We have the latest press release from NBC touting the ratings through 11 days of competition. While NBC’s ratings have been going down as we head towards the home stretch of the Winter Games, the ratings continue to be ahead of Turin’s pace.

Here are the latest ratings.

171 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE WATCHED THE OLYMPICS ON THE NETWORKS OF NBC UNIVERSAL THROUGH 11 DAYS

25.5 Million Average Audience For First 11 Nights; Nearly 5 Million More and 24% Higher Than 2006 Winter Games

71 Million Watched Networks of NBC Universal on Monday

VANCOUVER - February 23, 2010 - 171 million Americans have watched the Vancouver Olympics on the networks of NBC Universal through the first 11 days of the Games; three million more than watched the first 11 days of the 2006 Winter Games (168 million), according to data available today from The Nielsen Company.

NBCU’s Monday broadcasts were seen by 71.0 million total viewers, a million more and two percent higher than the comparable Monday from the 2006 Games (69.8 million). 

11-DAY AVERAGE IS NEARLY 5 MILLION MORE THAN 2006; BEST SINCE LILLEHAMMER GAMES: The 25.5 million average viewers for the first 11 nights of the Vancouver Games is the most for a non-U.S. Winter Olympics since the Lillehammer Games (39.7 million). The 25.5 million is nearly five million more and 24 percent higher than the average viewership of the first 11 nights from Turin in 2006 (20.6 million). The night averaged 20.9 million viewers, and the Games have now surpassed 20 million viewers in primetime each night thus far (11 straight nights).

MOST DOMINANT WINTER OLYMPICS TO DATE VS. COMPETITION: Through 11 nights, NBC’s Olympics coverage is more dominant over the competition than any Winter Olympics on record (dating back to the advent of Nielsen people meters, Calgary 1988).

• The 11-night primetime average of 25.6 million is 22 percent higher than the combined delivery of Fox, CBS and ABC (21.0 million).
• The most dominant prior Winter Olympics was Salt Lake City, which through 11 nights led the three-network competition by 20 percent (Olympics – 29.4 million, Combined three networks – 24.6 million).

OLYMPICS DOMINATE PRIMETIME AGAIN: The average viewership of 20.9 million last night for NBC’s primetime, on a night that faced original programming including The Bachelor on ABC and 24 on Fox, is less than two million below the 22.5 million for the comparable night at the 2006 Winter Games that featured alpine skiing’s men’s giant slalom. The giant slalom will be featured in primetime tonight on NBC.

• Head-to-head (8-10 p.m.) the Olympics nearly doubled the viewership of an original two-hour episode of The Bachelor on ABC (21.0 million vs. 11.2 million, up 88 percent).
• Head-to-head (9-10 p.m.) the Olympics had nearly 13 million viewers more than an original episode of 24 on Fox (21.6 million vs. 8.7 million, up 148 percent).

The 14.3/24 average household rating to-date is two full ratings points and 16 percent higher than 2006 (12.3/19).  The national household rating of 12.5/20 for Monday night is the first time during these Games that the rating is down over the comparable night at the 2006 Winter Games (13.6/21, the highest rated night to date of the Turin Games).  

NBC OLYMPICS MOBILE SURGES: NBC’s Olympics Mobile platforms (Mobile  Web Site and iTunes App), through just 11 days have amassed more than 58.2 million page views already surpassing the total number of page views for the entire 17-day Beijing Games (34.7 million) by 68 percent.

• There have been 1.4 million mobile video streams in just 10 days, more than four times the total number for the entire 17-day Beijing Games (301k).
• By the time the Opening Ceremony broadcast started at 7:30 p.m. on Feb 12, NBC’s Olympics Mobile had already generated more page views than the entire 2006 Winter Games (1.07 million).

NBCOLYMPICS.COM HAS MORE USERS THAN ENTIRE 2006 WINTER GAMES: In just eight days, NBCOlympics.com has delivered 32.8 million total unique users, nearly 20 million more unique users and 147 percent higher than the entire 17 days of the 2006 Winter Games (13.3 million).

• NBCOlympics.com’s 441 million page views through 11 days already surpass the total for the 17 days of the 2006 Winter Games (331 million).
• NBCOlympics.com has delivered 28.9 million video streams to date – nearly 24 million more and 467% higher than Turin’s first 10 days (5.1 million).

NOTE: All data for NBCOlympics.com and NBC Olympics Mobile is provided by Omniture.

TOP SPORTS ON NBCOLYMPICS.COM (by page views)
1. Figure Skating, 12.0 million 
2. Hockey, 3.6 million
3. Alpine Skiing, 1.3 million
4. Curling, 829k
5. Bobsled, 550k

TOP 10 ATHLETES SEARCHED ON NBCOLYMPICS.COM
1. Apolo Ohno - Short Track Speedskating
2. Tanith Belbin - Figure Skating
3. Lindsey Vonn - Alpine Skiing
4. Meryl Davis - Figure Skating
5. Shaun White - Snowboarding 
6. Bode Miller - Alpine Skiing
7. Evan Lysacek - Figure Skating
8. Johnny Weir - Figure Skating
9. Julia Mancuso - Alpine Skiing
10. Tessa Virtue - Figure Skating

METERED MARKET RATINGS BY TIME ZONE (11-Day Average):
Mountain Time Zone 19.6/32
Central Time Zone  16.0/25
Pacific Time Zone  15.9/29
Eastern Time Zone  15.4/24

TOP 25 METERED MARKETS (11-Day Average):
1. Denver, 22.5/36
2. Salt Lake City, 22.4/37
3. Milwaukee, 22.3/34
4. Seattle, 20.4/38
5. Minneapolis, 20.2/34
6. St. Louis, 19.4/30
7. Columbus, 19.0/29
8. San Diego, 18.7/31
9. West Palm Beach, 18.5/27
10. Portland, 18.4/34
11. Kansas City, 18.2/27
12. Cleveland, 17.8/28
13. Nashville, 17.6/25
14. Oklahoma City, 17.5/26
T15. Phoenix, 17.2/28
T15. Tulsa, 17.2/25
T17. Boston, 17.1/30
T17. Austin, 17.1/28
T17. Ft. Myers, 17.1/27
20. Providence, 17.0/28
21. Cincinnati, 16.7/26
22. Sacramento, 16.6/29
23. Indianapolis, 16.5/27
T24. Washington D.C., 16.4/27
T24. Detroit, 16.4/26
T24. Richmond, 16.4/25

TOP 25 METERED MARKETS FOR MONDAY, FEB. 22:
1. Salt Lake City, 21.8/36
2. Denver, 19.8/31
3. Oklahoma City, 19.5/28
4. Kansas City, 19.3/27
5. St. Louis, 19.0/29
6. Tulsa, 17.9/26
7. Ft. Myers, 17.8/27
8. Minneapolis, 17.5/29
9. Milwaukee, 17.4/27
10. Austin, 17.0/26
11. Nashville, 16.6/24
12. West Palm Beach, 16.6/24
13. Phoenix, 16.5/26
14. Buffalo, 15.8/25
15. Detroit, 15.5/24
16. Indianapolis, 15.2/25
17. San Diego, 15.0/26
T18. Seattle, 14.9/30
T18. Albuquerque, 14.9/22
20. Chicago, 14.8/23
T21. Portland, 14.7/28
T21. Columbus, 14.7/23
23. Cincinnati, 14.5/23
24. San Francisco, 14.4/29
T25. Cleveland, 14.2/23
T25. Providence, 14.2/24

I notice my home market of Providence has fallen from the middle of the pack, usually around 17-19 has fallen to the bottom of the Top 25 metered markets and 20th for the 11 day average. Perhaps 24 had something to do with it.