The Games didn’t officially open until Friday, but NBC’s primetime got off to a strong start from Sochi.
NBC’s curated Feb. 6 presentation of three new Winter Games competitions – men’s and women’s slopestyle snowboarding, team figure skating and women’s freestyle moguls -- averaged an 11.3 household rating and 18 share and 20 million viewers from 8:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., according to Nielsen data.
Peacock officials said that was the best rating and viewership on any network on Thursday since NBC's coverage of the 2013 NFL season opener between the Denver Broncos and then defending champion Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 5, 2013.
In addition to ranking first in rating and viewership, NBC’s Thursday night Olympics broadcast scored a 6.0 primetime rating among adults 18 to 49 – besting the combined total of ABC, CBS and Fox for the night.
Last night’s telecast was the first ever for a broadcast network that preceded the Opening Ceremony.
