Ratings Roundup: NBC Receives Least Watched Olympics in Primetime; NFL Hall of Fame Game Becomes Most-Watched Preseason Bout in Four Years By SVG Staff
Friday, August 13, 2021 - 10:00 am
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Ratings roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were the least-watched for any Summer or Winter Games, Steelers-Cowboys on Fox was the most-watched preseason game since 2017, the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville delivered the most-watched cable race in NBC Sports history, and more.
2020 Tokyo Olympics Becomes Least-Watched in Primetime for Any Summer or Winter Games The Tokyo Summer Olympics averaged 15.6 million viewers per night across NBC's various television and digital platforms, marking the least-watched primetime Olympics on record, Summer or Winter. The previous low was set by the previous Olympics - 19.8 million for the PyeongChang Winter Games in 2018.
Tokyo is the first Summer Olympics to average fewer viewers than the preceding Winter Games since Athens in 2004, which followed a U.S. based Winter Olympics two years prior.
The primetime average from Tokyo marks a 42% decline from the previous Summer Games in Rio five years ago (27.0M) and a 50% drop from the London Olympics on NBC alone in 2012 (31.1M). Viewership fell 27% from the previous Summer Games low of 21.5 million for Sydney in 2000, the last Summer Olympics to take place in the fall.
Sunday's Closing Ceremony averaged just 9.0 million viewers (8.81M on NBC alone), marking the smallest primetime Olympics audience on record. Viewership declined 47% from the Rio Closing Ceremony (17.0M).
On Saturday, the final night of competition averaged 10.5 million (8.45M on NBC alone) - down 36% from 2016 (16.3M) and the second-smallest primetime Olympics audience on record. Coverage on Friday night averaged 12.6 million (9.85M on NBC alone), down 40% from Rio (21.1M). (SportsMediaWatch)
More Olympics Ratings Telemundo Deportes, the Spanish-language home of the Olympic Games, wrapped up its extensive coverage of the Tokyo Olympics, reaching 10.6 million viewers on Telemundo and Universo. In addition, the Olympics generated 16.5 million minutes streamed across Telemundo Deportes' digital platforms, up 22% from Rio 2016.
Telemundo Deportes' exclusive Spanish-language coverage of the Tokyo Olympics was the most extensive Olympic coverage ever in U.S. Spanish-language. Approximately 250 Telemundo personnel, including a team of more than 25 on-air talent, experts and Olympians, provided viewers with more than 300 hours of the most unique, authentic coverage of the Games, supplemented with 1,000 pieces of short-form video and editorial content across digital platforms.
Viewership Highlights:
Telemundo ranked as the #1 Spanish-language TV network for three consecutive Saturdays, averaging 287,000 total viewers and 111,000 adults 18-49 from 6am-6pm - outperforming its main competitor by 37% and 45%, respectively. Telemundo's Tokyo Olympics coverage held an even greater lead on Saturday mornings (6am-Noon), more than doubling the competition.
Led by Mexico's National Team, men's soccer ranked as the most-watched live Olympic events on Telemundo.
Matches featuring the men's Mexican team averaged 358,000 total viewers and 174,000 adults 18-49, including the highly anticipated game featuring Mexico vs Brazil with 499,000 total viewers and 258,000 adults 18-49.
The gold medal match featuring Brazil vs. Spain delivered 360,000 total viewers and 144,000 adults 18-49.
Other top-rated events featured female athletes from Mexico:
Women's Synchronized Diving 3M featuring Mexico and the U.S. with 594,000 total viewers and 277,000 adults 18-49.
Women's Softball featuring Mexico vs. Italy with 469,000 total viewers and 203,000 adults 18-49.
On social media, the Olympics generated 21.4 million views, 1.1 million actions, and more than 31.7 million minutes consumed across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
Men's soccer dominated live digital consumption with the top 5 live events generating nearly 2.8M minutes - top matches included the Mexico National Team's final four matches and the gold medal match featuring Brazil vs. Spain.
Telemundo's coverage was also the #1 most social televised Spanish-language program across all of the television from July 23-August 8.
North of the border, Canadian audiences engaged on all CBC television, streaming and digital platforms to cheer on Team Canada and athletes from around the world during the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, with CBC marking record high digital audiences and also ranking as the most-watched TV network in Canada throughout the Games.
CBC's digital and streaming platforms including CBC.ca, the CBC Olympics App and CBC Gem grew historic, record high audiences over the course of the Games, with Canadians streaming more than 37 million video views since the beginning of Tokyo 2020, up 62 percent over PyeongChang 2018, which had a similar time difference of 11 to 16 hours for viewers in time zones across Canada. Additionally, live views made up 61 percent of all video views, highlighting the increasing popularity of live streaming on CBC digital platforms, and Connected TVs accounted for about 68 percent of the total time spent streaming Tokyo 2020 content on CBC Gem. In total, Canadians consumed nearly 17 million hours of digital Olympic content on CBC digital platforms, with time spent reaching the highest one-day total on record for CBC on Friday, August 6, the day of the women's soccer gold medal game.
On television, 28 million viewers or 3 in 4 Canadians tuned in for Tokyo 2020 coverage on CBC/Radio-Canada. CBC ranked as the most-watched network in Canada for
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Ratings Roundup: NBC Receives Least Watched Olympics in Primetime; NFL Hall of Fame Game Becomes Most-Watched Preseason Bout in Four Years By SVG Staff 
