NBC Audience for Olympics Opening Drops 35% From London 2012
- TV network aired Rio de Janeiro ceremonies on delay in U.S.
- NBC counting on big ratings to justify advertisers’ spending
Michael Phelps leads the American delegation during the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on Aug. 5, 2016.
Photographer: LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
NBC’s broadcast of the Olympics opening ceremony delivered a U.S. audience that was 35 percent smaller than the one viewing the first evening of the London games four years ago.
The broadcast was viewed by about 26.5 million people, NBC Sports spokesman Dan Masonson said Saturday. The preliminary audience rating of 17.2 dropped from London’s initial rating of 23.0, NBC said. Each rating point equals 1 percent of the 116.4 million U.S. TV households tracked by Nielsen. Friday’s opening ceremony was streamed online simultaneously for the first time, which may have hurt TV ratings.