TV Ratings: Rio Olympics Rise Again With U.S. Gold

August 10, 2016 8:55am PT by Michael O'Connell

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Swimming and gymnastics bring another spike for NBC's coverage.

More good news out of Rio: the fourth night of Olympic competition hit another ratings high for NBC.

The network, touting more good streaming news, received a 22.0 overnight rating among households. Not only is that the highest delivery for the 2016 Games to date, it's the first to actually improve upon the London Olympics in 2012. The first Tuesday of that Games pulled a 21.8 rating.

Positive signs continued with Fast Affiliate returns. Nielsen gives the primetime block 33.6 million viewers and a 9.9 rating among adults 18-49 between 8 and 11 p.m. PT.

Going into Tuesday night, the Rio Olympics were only 27.3 million viewers in primetime. That's a far cry from the 38.4 million average that the network saw during the last Summer Games. Tuesday continued the showing from big U.S. draws like men's swimming and women's gymnastics.

NBC is also releasing Total Audience Delivery on a daily basis, combining broadcast, cable and streaming, to better reflect how many people are watching the games. To date, NBC has logged 852 million minutes of live streaming.

TV Ratings