NBC Olympics Coverage Sees Slight Dip In Viewers From Previous Tuesday, Continues To Fall Behind Rio Games

NBC’s Tuesday evening coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics saw Simone Biles, who withdrew from the women’s all-around, return to win a bronze medal on the balance beam. Biles’ return to the podium marked another win for the U.S. team, but failed to bring viewership and ratings to new levels. In overnight ratings, NBC’s evening programing aired to 14.6 million viewers and gained a 3.0 rating in the 18-49 demo.

While Tuesday saw an increase in viewers and stable ratings from Monday night (13.7M, 3.0), it dipped 2% in viewers and five tenths in ratings from the previous week. While the drop was nothing major, it’s worth noting that like previous days of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Tuesday still trailed the stats of its corresponding day at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Around this time during the 2016 games, Biles made history as the first American woman to win four gold medals one Olympics in gymnastics and NBC took in a 6.8/24 rating and 23.82 million viewers.

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Last Sunday remains the most watched night of this year’s global sporting event so far (4.1, 17.0M).

According to NBC, which reported a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 17.4 million viewers across all platforms including Peacock, Tuesday delivered more primetime viewers on the second Tuesday of the Olympics than on the opening Tuesday for the first time since the 1988 Seoul Olympics. NBC also says that its coverage has averaged a TAD of 16.8 million viewers through Tuesday night, positioning the 2020 Games to rank with NBC’s Sunday Night Football as the two most-watched primetime shows in 2020-21.

As was the cast for previous nights since the Olympic Games started on Friday, July 23, NBC ruled Primetime, besting ABC, CBS, Fox and the CW viewer-wise and ratings-wise.

On Tuesday, ABC scored an overnight average of 1.2M viewers and a 0.2 rating for reruns of The Goldbergs, Home Economics, The Conners, Black-Ish and To Tell The Truth. CBS, which also featured reruns for NCIS and FBI, saw a new episode of Love Island air to 1.82M viewers and earn a 0.4 rating. Also airing reruns were Fox and the CW.

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