The averaged 23.5 million viewers in the United States, making them the most-watched Winter Games since 2014 with a 96% larger audience than the Beijing Games four years ago.
NBCUniversal said the average includes combined audiences on NBC, Peacock, CNBC, USA Network and other digital platforms. It covered the live afternoon (2-5 p.m. EST) and prime-time (8-11 p.m. EST/PST) windows.
The figures are based on Nielsen鈥檚 ratings (through Feb. 19), Nielsen鈥檚 early figures for the final three days (Feb. 20-22) and digital data from Adobe Analytics.
Viewership numbers for the in men鈥檚 hockey on Sunday morning were not expected until Tuesday. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said on Monday that 8.7 million were watching in Canada when Jack Hughes scored the golden goal in overtime.
鈥淚 feel in so many ways that these Winter Olympics exceeded our expectations. We were reminded that the Olympics are the most exciting, unpredictable and biggest stage in sports,鈥� said Molly Solomon, the executive producer of NBC’s Olympics coverage. 鈥淎nd what I think came together in Italy was that the settings were stunningly beautiful, the access we had to the athletes and their lives was unprecedented. And then you take the technology, the first-person view drones, the audio, and it took the audience inside the stories in fresh, meaningful ways.
鈥淎nd Team USA, I mean, the results, you鈥檝e seen the numbers for the medals and things. America wants to see how their team鈥檚 performing, and it鈥檚 the best performance in an overseas Olympics. Everything lived up to the billing, and some of the superstars had riveting, dramatic performances. Not all of them gold, but that鈥檚 the Olympics, right?鈥�
NBC broadcast the Super Bowl, the Olympics and the NBA All-Star Game in February, the first time a network had all three in one month. It also premiered 鈥淪unday Night Basketball鈥� on Feb. 1.
According to Nielsen, 215.6 million U.S. viewers tuned in for at least one of those events. Audience reach numbers have been higher under Nielsen鈥檚 new rating system since the minimum viewing requirement was reduced from 5 to 3 minutes.
Super Bowl 60 averaged 125.6 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo, the second-most-watched program in U.S. history. The All-Star Game had its highest audience in 15 years, averaging 8.8 million, and the Lakers-Knicks game on Feb. 1 averaged 4.5 million.
鈥淚 have to say it鈥檚 probably better than we expected. This doesn鈥檛 happen through luck or happenstance. This happens through just really good planning and then execution across the month. So really happy overall and I don鈥檛 think it could have gone better, honestly,鈥� NBC Sports President Rick Cordella said.
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