Like NBC overall, TV viewing for the Today show during the Rio Olympics is down compared to the 2012 Summer Games.
Compared to week one of the London Olympics, the Today show is down -12 percent in viewers and down -15 percent in the demo. Compared to the first week of Beijing (which had given the Today show its best ratings in nearly 8 years) last week’s show was down -20 percent in viewers and down -27 percent in the demo.
The Today show was still the big winner last week with a +32 percent viewer lead on GMA. Still, it was the ABC show’s closest Olympics week margin since the 1996 Atlanta Games. Verses week one in London, GMA cut the viewer gap by -22 percent and the demo gap by -4 percent. GMA was still down -9 percent in viewers and down -20 percent in the demo compared to the comparable week in London.
The biggest winner last week (besides Michael Phelps) is CBS This Morning. The No. 3 morning show was up a whopping +45 percent in viewers and up +7 percent in the demo vs. the comparable week 4 years ago.
As it has for years, and will continue to do until at least 2032, NBC News has sent a big contingent to the Olympics host city. The next three Olympics will originate in Asia: Pyeongchang in 2018, Tokyo in 2020 and Beijing in 2022).
The averages for the week of August 8, 2016:
- Total Viewers: NBC: 5.244M / ABC: 3.986M / CBS: 3.254M
- A25-54 viewers: NBC: 2.133M / ABC: 1.314M / CBS: 916,000