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NBC's Olympic Ratings Struggle Again

J

Joseph_Gallant

Guest
As reported on Zap 2 it.com, NBC's Olympic ratings again struggled last night (February 19th).

Although NBC did win the night in overall viewers, ABC won the night in adults from 18 to 49.

NBC's Olympic coverage easily won the two hours between 7 and 9 P.M. (ET/PT), but lost out to ABC's "Desperate Housewives" (9-10 P.M. ET/PT) and "Grey's Anatomy" (10-11 P.M. ET/PT) both in overall viewers and young adult demos.

Although NBC's taped telecast of the Closing Ceremonies next Sunday (February 26th) won't have to face "Housewives", it will have to face "Grey's"......which will follow a two-hour season finale of the reality hit "Dancing With The Stars".

It doesn't get any better for the Peacock Network: Of the seven remaining nights of the Winter Olympcs (including tonight, February 20th), it is very possible that on four of those nights, portions of NBC's prime-time Olympic coverage may be beaten by other networks. There's even an outside chance that CBS' sitcoms or Fox's "24" could also beat NBC's Olympic coverage tonight.
 
> There's even an outside
> chance that CBS' sitcoms or Fox's "24" could also beat NBC's
> Olympic coverage tonight.

I think you can bet on at least "24" beating NBC. Plus, FOX started the night out with an episode of "House." Not sure about CBS as, IIRC, they are airing reruns.
 
NBC's Olympic Ratings Were Better On Monday

Zap 2 It.com posted a story today (February 21st) on last night's (Febreuary 20th) prime-time ratings.

NBC did win the night both in overall viewers and in adult 18-49 demographics. In total viewers, NBC's Olympic coverage won every half-hour. But in 18-49's, I suspect "House" and "24" (especially the former) probably finished a strong second to the Olympics.

It should be noted that last night's NBC prime-time coverage featured Ice Dancing, where Americans Ben Agosto and Tanith Belbin finished second, winning the silver medal. It was the highest-ever finish by an American pair in Ice Dancing and only the second time ever that an American pair won a medal in this event (Colleen O'Connor and Jim Milnes took bronze in the first-ever Olympic Ice Dancing event back in 1976). Additionally, Belbin had only become a U.S. citzen in December, and NBC agressively promoted this storyline during their coverage.

The good news for NBC: Tonight and Thursday, prime-time will include the women's figure-skating competition (the "short program" tonight and the "long program" Thursday), an event that usually gets the highest TV ratings of the entire Winter Games (at this writing, NBC is also scheduled to show men's aerials skiing on Thursday night, but I wouldn't be surprised if the network moves it to either the afternoon or late-night broadcast and devotes the entire Thursday prime-time broadcast to the long program in women's figure-skating).

The bad news for NBC: The next three nights, Olympic coverage will go head-to-head against "American Idol". In fact, "Idol" tonight and tomorrow will be two-hour shows. Thursday's "Idol" results show is scheduled to be an hour, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Fox at the last minute stretch it to 90 minutes or even two hours. And on Thursday, Sasha Cohen and Company will also have to face "Survivor" and a two-hour "Dancing With The Stars". Thus, NBC may not get the boost they expect from women's figure-skating.

Thursday is looming to be the most competitive night of prime-time in years, if not in the entire six-decade history of network television broadcasting. NBC's best hope is a combination of Sasha Cohen having a real shot to win the gold and that "Idol", "Survivor" and "Dancing" "eat each other up" in the ratings, allowing NBC to slide-in as the winner.
 
Re: NBC's Olympic Ratings Were Better On Monday

> Thursday is looming to be the most competitive night of
> prime-time in years, if not in the entire six-decade history
> of network television broadcasting. NBC's best hope is a
> combination of Sasha Cohen having a real shot to win the
> gold and that "Idol", "Survivor" and "Dancing" "eat each
> other up" in the ratings, allowing NBC to slide-in as the
> winner.
>

NBC will play the cards rights. With Sasha Cohen now in the
lead of the women's figure skating competition after today' short
program, NBC will make it the centerpiece of their coverage
on Thursday. Most of the viewers will probably know
the final results by 6o'clock Eastern, but more of them will still
tune to see her Gold-winning performance so your tape vs live argument
is mighty weak. People want to see Americans win and they'll get exactly
that on Thursday night.
 
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