NBC SPORTS NETWORK POSTS 2 MOST-WATCHED DAYS IN ITS HISTORY

NBC Sports Group

LONDON – July 31, 2012 – NBC Sports Network’s coverage of the London Olympics set viewership records this past weekend with the two most-watched days in its history, bolstered by coverage of Team USA’s women’s soccer vs. Columbia on Saturday afternoon, rowing coverage Saturday night, and Team USA Basketball vs. France on Sunday. NBC Sports Network is airing nearly 300 hours of coverage, the most-ever for an Olympics network (cable or broadcast).

Sunday’s average viewership of 1.204 million (4 a.m.-7:06 p.m. ET) marked NBC Sports Network’s highest average viewership ever in this daypart and 10% above Saturday’s Olympic coverage (1.093 million, 4 a.m. – 8 p.m. ET).

NBCUniversal’s other cable networks airing Olympic competition (MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo) are also enjoying viewership gains.

NBC SPORTS NETWORK:

  • The U.S. Women’s Soccer vs. Columbia (Saturday, Noon-2 p.m. ET) averaged 2.478 million viewers, with a peak audience of 3.346 million, to rank as NBC Sports Network’s most watched non-NHL coverage in network history.



  • Saturday night’s rowing coverage from 7-8 p.m. ET on NBCSN eclipsed the soccer coverage, drawing 3.140 million viewers.



  • On Sunday, the U.S. Men’s Basketball team started their gold medal quest (9:30-11:30 a.m. ET) with an average audience of 2.648 million average viewers, with a peak audience of 3.036.


MSNBC:

MSNBC, airing 155.5 hours of Olympic long-form programming at the London Olympics, is enjoying viewership gains compared to the first two nights of the Beijing Games.

  • From 7 a.m.-Noon ET, the two-day average viewership is 46% above the first two days from Beijing (713k vs. 489k).



  • From Noon-5 p.m. ET, MSNBC averaged 1.494 million viewers for the first weekend of the London Olympics, 44% more than the first two days from Beijing (1.035 million) and 163% more than the first two days at Athens (567k from 4-8 p.m. ET).


BRAVO:

Bravo is the home of Olympic tennis, airing a total of 56 hours during the London Olympics from the famed lawn at Wimbledon.

  • The first two days of tennis coverage marked Bravo’s highest weekend average viewership (P2+) in the 9 a.m.-3 p.m. daypart since October 27-28, 2007.


CNBC:

CNBC is, once again, the home of Olympic boxing airing 73 hours during the London Olympics

  • For the first weekend CNBC is averaging 698k viewers (3:30-6:45 p.m. ET), up 24% from the Beijing Olympics weekend afternoon average (561k).


Source: Nielsen Media Research, LS data.

For the full schedule of NBCUniversal’s Olympic coverage, please go to: NBCOlympics.com

For press information, bios, photos and releases, please go to: NBCSportsGroupPressBox.com
NBC SPORTS NETWORK POSTS 2 MOST-WATCHED DAYS IN ITS HISTORY