While NBC Nightly News saw a two-week viewership boost with coverage from Rio (the program was up +18 percent last week compared to the same week in 2015), the newscast was down from the most recent Summer Games, a pattern that reflects NBC’s overall Rio ratings woes.
Compared to the second week of the London Games Nightly News was flat in viewers and down -4 percent in the demo. Compared to the second week of the Beijing Games, Nightly was up +9 percent in viewers, but down -6 in the A25-54 demo. Looking closer at the demo, Nightly News’s 2-week average from Rio is the lowest during any Olympics since at least the 1992 Barcelona Games.
But the demo travails are not NBC’s alone. Compared to the second week of London ABC’s World News Tonight is down -9 percent. And vs. the second week of Beijing, the ABC newscast is down -23 percent among younger viewers. Among total viewers, World News Tonight was up +15 percent vs. week two in London, and up +13 percent vs. week two in Beijing.
Comparing week one in Rio to week two, only the CBS Evening News saw total viewer and demo growth, week-to-week.
Numbers for the week of August 15, 2016:
| NBC | ABC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 9,802,000 | 7,818,000 | 6,279,000 |
| • A25-54: | 2,770,000 | 1,663,000 | 1,406,000 |