Olympic ratings were well down last night from a week earlier, when the U.S. women’s gymnastics team won the silver medal. But even against a lower-rated Beijing Games, the other networks continued to struggle with lineups loaded with repeats.
NBC averaged a dominant 8.4 adults 18-49 rating and 23 share in primetime, according to Nielsen overnights, down 24 percent from last Tuesday.
But the other Big Three networks managed a combined rating of only 4.3/11, barely half of what NBC drew.
The night’s top-rated non-Olympic show, CBS’s “Big Brother,” averaged a mere 2.1. In fairness, the other networks haven’t been putting on a big counter-Olympics push. Fox had no originals last night, while CBS and ABC had three between them.
For the night, Univision, ABC and CBS tied for second at 1.6/4, with Fox fifth at 1.1/3 and CW sixth at 0.3/1.
Ratings for NBC are approximate as fast nationals measure 8 to 11 p.m. timeslot data and not actual program data. The Olympics lasted well past 11 p.m.
At 8 p.m. NBC was first with a 6.3 for the Olympics, with ABC second with a 2.0 for a repeat of “Wipeout.” Univision was third with a 1.7 for “Al Diablo con los Guapos,” CBS fourth with a 1.5 for a repeat of “NCIS,” Fox fifth with a 1.2 for a “House” rerun and CW sixth with a 0.3 for a repeat of “Beauty and the Geek.”
NBC was first again at 9 p.m. with an 8.8 for more Olympics, followed by CBS with a 2.1 for “Brother.” Univision was third with a 1.7 for “Fuego en la Sangre,” ABC fourth with a 1.3 for a repeat of “Wanna Bet,” Fox fifth with a 0.9 for a rerun of “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” and CW sixth with a 0.3 for a “Reaper” repeat.
At 10 p.m. NBC led with a 10.3 for Olympics, while ABC moved to second with a 1.5 for “Primetime.” Univision was third with a 1.3 for “Aqui y Ahora” and CBS fourth with a 1.1 for a repeat of “Without a Trace.”
NBC also finished first for the night among households with a 15.7 average overnight rating and a 25 share. CBS was second at 4.2/7, ABC third at 2.7/4, Fox fourth at 2.2/3, Univision fifth at 2.0/3 and CW sixth at 0.6/1.
