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2006 Olympics Looking to Be Worst Ever

Published on February 21, 2006 | Email this article

Falling to Fox and ABC programming three out of four nights in a row last week, it is increasingly clear that this year’s Winter Olympics on NBC will be the lowest-rated games in Olympic history, writes Media Life. The 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics, which averaged 21.5 million total viewers over 16 nights, currently ranks as the lowest rated Olympics. The Torino Games have averaged 21.1 million total viewers per night.

 

 

According to Nielsen, last Wednesday’s 11.3 average household rating marked the lowest Winter Olympics night on record. Strong competition from Fox and ABC has lowered ratings among adults 18-49.

The future of Olympic ratings is now in question. Critics say that NBC needs to do two things to revive viewer interest: show the big results throughout the night, not only at the end of the broadcast; and build interest in foreign competitors with the same kind of coverage the network now gives U.S. athletes.

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