NBC wins with Olympics viewership

Viewership for the second and final week of NBC’s prime-time Winter Olympics coverage was down 14% from the first, but nearly double that of runner-up Fox Broadcasting, despite finishing behind “American Idol” two of the three times it aired last week.

NBC averaged 21.32 million viewers for its prime-time programming between Feb. 22 and Sunday, according to figures released Tuesday by the Nielsen Co.

Friday night’s Olympics coverage was the week’s most-watched program, averaging 24.52 million viewers, more than double the 11 million combined viewership of ABC, CBS and Fox.

Sunday’s closing ceremony averaged 21.4 million viewers -- 45% more than for the 2006 closing ceremony.