The action from Sochi continued to heat up on Monday and there was little cooling on NBCUniversal networks.
NBCSN improved on its marks from the 2012 London Games, while CNBC established a new record in early-evening time slot. For its part, NBC’s primetime telecast continued to outpace the Nielsens from the 2006 Torino Games, but slipped behind its live coverage from Vancouver in 2010 by double-digits for the first time.
After a record-breaking opening weekend, NBCSN continued to enjoy its inaugural Winter Games, averaging 1 million viewers for its live coverage from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. (ET) on Feb. 10, an 84% surge from the network’s opening Monday of the 2012 Summer Games, according to live + same-day national data from Nielsen. Within the noon to 5 p.m. window, NBCSN was the most-watched network in all of cable with 1.5 million viewers.
Through three days in Sochi, the national sports cable network averaged 1.6 million viewers, 60% amelioration from London, its first Olympic telecasts.
Although the rocks didn’t go skip John Shuster’s way during the U.S.-Norway match, CNBC averaged 1.2 million viewers from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. with its curling coverage. The delivery was the channel’s all-time mark in that window.
Meanwhile, the Peacock’s curated primetime presentation from 8 p.m. to 11:02 p.m (ET) -- featuring men's 1500 meter, short-track skating, women’s super combined alpine skiing and Canadian Alex Bilodeau repeating his golden run from Vancouver in men's moguls (pictured, celebrating with his special needs brother, Frederic) – dominated the competition, averaging 22.4 million viewers, and a 6.5 rating against adults 18 to 49. Those deliveries represented record advantages of 27% and 35%, respectively, over the combined primetime totals of ABC, CBS and Fox, according to NBCU officials.
The Feb. 10 telecast averaged a 12.8 household rating/20 share, which was even with the first Monday night from Torino, while the 22.4 million average audience was up 6% from the last European Winter Games. However, the rating was down 10% from Vancouver’s 14.2/22 and off 11% from the North American quadrennium’s 25.2 million viewers. That Monday four years ago fell on the Presidents Day holiday.
NBC's late-night show at midnight garnered 6 million viewers on Monday to stand as the most-watchyed Winter Olympics opening Monday show in that time slot since the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.
