Saturday was the first official day of action for the 2014 Winter Olympics from Sochi.
NBC's primetime coverage from 8-11:08 p.m. averaged 25.1 million viewers, down 4% from Vancouver's first night in 2010, which was aired live. Compared to 2006, the tape-delayed coverage was up 8%.
The 25.1 million were the most for viewers for a Saturday primetime on any of the big four since the second Saturday of the 2010 Vancouver games, which drew 26.6 million viewers.
Among adults 18-49, the Olympics averaged a 6.3 rating.
NBCSN set a couple of viewership records for its first day of Sochi coverage. The live coverage from 6 a.m.-2:30 p.m. ET averaged 2.6 million viewers, setting a new daytime viewership mark and more than doubling the 1 million that tuned in during the same window during Vancouver's first afternoon.
NBCSN's coverage of the new team figure skating competition averaged 4.9 million viewers from 1-2 p.m. ET, marking the network's most-watched event. The competition, which was one by the host country Russia for its first gold medal of the Olympics, surpassed the 4.4 million that tuned in to watch Team USA win the gold medal in women's soccer in 2012.
(Photo Credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images)
