8 Days In, Olympics Yields Dip In Viewer Numbers

After eight days of coverage of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, NBC TV viewing results -- from all platforms -- continue to post slightly lower numbers than in Sochi four years ago.

Prime-time viewing of this year’s Olympics is down 7% to 22.6 million when looking at all NBC platforms -- NBC Television Network, sport cable network NBCSN, and viewing from NBC’s digital platforms -- from Sochi Winter Olympics 24.3 million.

NBC calls its data “Total Audience Delivery” -- which looks at average minute viewing of all platforms, with traditional TV network data coming from Nielsen.

One major point here: The 2014 Sochi Olympics had no simultaneous live streaming and no competing prime-time Olympic cable coverage. That said, NBC touts many more total hours of programming versus four years ago.

For the eight days so far, NBC says average minute viewing for just the NBC Television Network has averaged 20.4 million. Adding in viewing from cable and digital platforms secured a 11% increase to 22.6 million.

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NBC says viewers on digital platforms have consumed five times the total streaming minutes at PyeongChang -- 1.1 billion -- versus 243 million streaming minutes for the 2014 Sochi Olympics through the middle Thursday.

Days seven (Wednesday) and eight (Thursday) of this year’s Olympics dipped under the 20 million average minute viewer level. The biggest prime-time nights so far were with 28.3 million viewing for the Opening Ceremony (second night of coverage) last Friday, and 26.0 million on Sunday (fourth night).

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