Primetime Ratings: Olympics Power NBC

NBC rode the Olympics to an easy Sunday prime win, posting a 5.1 in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and an 18 share. Next up was ABC at 0.9/3.

The previous Sunday featured the Super Bowl on NBC.

NBC’s prime peak occurred when women’s figure skating aired. The network said the top markets for Sunday’s prime telecast were Salt Lake City, Denver and Milwaukee.

ABC had repeats of America’s Funniest Home Videos and two repeats of Celebrity Family Feud, before Shark Tank did a 0.8, down 27% from its last fresh airing.

CBS weighed in at 0.7/2. 60 Minutes started prime at 0.7, up from the previous week’s 0.3 (against the Super Bowl pre-game), then Big Brother: Celebrity Edition did a 1.2, down 33% from its premiere. A SEAL Team repeat followed, and an NCIS: Los Angeles rerun closed out prime.

Fox did a 0.4/2 with repeated comedies.  

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.