NBC Primetime RIO OLYMPICS Ratings Off to Dominant Start

Viewership and ratings for NBC's exclusive coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympics is off to the second-most dominant primetime start of any Olympics on record.

After two days, NBC's average primetime viewership (24.4 million viewers) and household rating (13.0) have respective 294% and 210% advantages over the other broadcast networks combined - the second-largest Olympics advantage on record (behind only the London Olympics).

NBC will begin Total Audience Delivery reports later this week measuring full consumption. The TAD will measure broadcast, cable, and digital/other consumption.

Last night's NBC coverage (8:30-11:05pm ET/PT) averaged 20.7 million viewers in primetime - topping the other broadcast networks combined by 381% to rank as the most dominant Saturday night on record. The telecast posted an 11.4 household rating. Saturday's Olympic coverage on the networks of NBCUniversal was watched by 80.5 million viewers (27.1% of the U.S. population) in 46.5 million homes (39.9% of U.S. TV households).

The NBC primetime figures do not include simultaneous live coverage on NBCSN, which averaged 1.5 million viewers from 8-11 p.m. ET, and the 705,000 viewers for Bravo's live coverage of Olympic tennis (7-10:40pm ET), featuring Venus Williams' three-set loss to Kirsten Flipkens.

NBC's 5.9 primetime rating among Adults 18-49 on Saturday night topped by 743% the other broadcast networks combined (0.7) - the largest advantage on record for any non-Super Bowl night.

In addition, NBC Olympics' cable and digital metrics are on record pace:

CABLE

NBCSN's 2016 Rio Olympics coverage has increased vs. London on all three days of event coverage. Saturday's full-day coverage (9 a.m.-midnight ET) averaged 1.8 million viewers -- up 45% from the comparable day in 2012. That increase follows respective 28% and 18% full-day increases for Wednesday and Thursday soccer coverage.

U.S. Men's Basketball win over China on NBCSN yesterday (6-8 p.m. ET) averaged 3.8 million viewers - topping viewership of all U.S. men's basketball games on the network at the 2012 London Olympics. NBCSN's Saturday viewership peaked at 4.3 million viewers during the game (6-6:15 p.m. ET).

U.S. Women's Soccer win vs. France yesterday averaged 2.9 million viewers - up 19% from the team's second match in '12 (vs. Colombia).

DIGITAL/OTHER

Saturday was the best day ever for NBC Olympics digital platforms, with 155 million live streaming minutes (up 263% from the comparable day in 2012) and 11.3 million unique users (up 7%).
NBC Olympics' 216 million live streaming minutes through Saturday is the best ever at this point in the Olympics, and up 280% from the same point in London 2012.

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