Nights of Gold for NBC

It was the seven Olympic nights followed by a lot of dwarfs in prime time last week, as NBC exceeded the combined nightly audience for ABC, CBS and Fox, and more than doubled its overall average of the corresponding week a year ago, based on viewing estimates issued by Nielsen Media Research.

NBC recorded the most-watched week for any network since the 1996 Summer Olympics from Atlanta. Viewing of the Games did cool considerably after the record-breaking opening ceremonies, but ratings spiked upward this week, buoyed by coverage of the women’s figure skating Tuesday.

If there is any silver lining to NBC’s gold-medal ratings, it’s only that the Olympics remain most popular with older viewers, many of whom fall outside the 18-to-49 age bracket that is the principal currency to Madison Avenue media buyers.

Thus far, despite coverage of snowboarding and similar events, the median viewing age for the current Olympics is 48, slightly higher than for the previous three Winter Games.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

National Nielsen Viewership

(text of infobox not included)