It was American Idol‘s turn to feel the Olympics pain. NBC:  See Mitch Metcalf’s SKEDBALL post for details on last night’s Sochi ratings.  After an uptick on Tuesday, Wednesday’s WINTER OLYMPICS coverage fell to 5.6, down a full point from the previous day, and also back to being below the last 3 winter games […]

After a relatively good night Tuesday, last night’s Olympic coverage on NBC (5.6 adult 18-49 rating from 8-11 pm Wednesday night  in the delayed “fast” nationals) was significantly below the comparable night for Turin 2006 (6.0 rating) and miles below Vancouver 2010 (9.0 rating).  Last night’s coverage featured: Women’s Downhill, Pairs’ Final, Women’s Halfpipe, Men’s […]

Wednesday fast national ratings.  

NBC averaged a 6.6 18-49 rating from 8-11 pm last night, well ahead of the same night in Turin 2006 (5.6) and Vancouver 2010 (5.5).  Events last night included: Men’s Halfpipe, Pairs’ Short Program, and Women’s Ski Jumping. Through Tuesday, Sochi is averaging a 6.9 adult 18-49 rating for the Olympics to date, now comfortably ahead […]

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  The WINTER OLYMPICS stayed at 6.6 in final numbers.  The only change in last night’s other fresh programming was a 0.1 drop in the 8PM airing of DADS to 1.1.  (A couple of ABC’s reruns also dropped 0.1.) TUESDAY CABLE:  TEEN MOMS (MTV), BEING MARY JANE (BET) and THE HAVES AND HAVE […]

Last night’s Winter Olympic coverage from Sochi on NBC averaged a preliminary 6.4 adult 18-49 rating from 8-11 pm. Events last night included: Women’s Super Combined, Men’s Moguls, and Men’s 1500m Short Track.  If NBC excludes the 8:00 half hour (if it held national commercials until 8:30 pm), the nightly rating will be a 6.6 adult […]

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  THE OLYMPICS adjusted up to 6.5 last night, still below the parallel night at Turin 2006 and farther behind the North American 2002/2010 games.  Of course, CPMs (the price paid by advertisers for commercial time) have gone up in the past 8 years, so a 6.5 yields more revenue now than it […]

  We’re 3 days into the 18 of the WINTER OLYMPICS, and the games are already paying ratings dividends for NBC.  (However, it’s critical to note that the Olympics are like the NFL, only more so:  the rights and production costs are so massively expensive that high ratings don’t necessarily mean profits–and even slight underperformance […]