NBC experienced mixed results for the 2014 Sochi Olympics. It saw record ratings on NBCSN averaging the ten highest-rated weekdays in the channel's history.
Online, hockey provided NBCOlympics.com with the biggest audiences for a live event breaking the record for Super Bowl XLVI. And that's even with cable and satellite subscribers needing to authenticate their accounts to watch the online streams.
In primetime, NBC won every night against its competition by wide margins. The other networks for all intents and purposes conceded the 18 nights of the Olympics to NBC.
As far as the primetime ratings are concerned, there are a few red flags for the Peacock that network officials will want to fix for the next Winter Games in 2018.
First, the 2014 Olympics saw the primetime audience get older. In the 18-49 demographic which NBC covets, The rating fell from Vancouver averaging a 6.0 in 2014 compared to a 7.1 in 2010 and a 6.2 from the Turin Games in 2006. According to Advertising Age, AMC's The Walking Dead beat the Olympics in 18-49 twice.
Second, NBC projected an average 15.5 rating for Sochi. It averaged a 12.3 in 2014, well below Vancouver's 13.8 and just above's Turin's 12.2.
As a result, NBC had to provide advertisers with make-good commercials for the failure to meet ratings projections. But advertisers said they weren't disappointed noting that primetime still attracts the highest audiences of all dayparts.
Sochi's numbers were hindered by the 9-hour time difference with the U.S. East Coast which did not allow for live events in primetime. Also, some events shown during the day like figure skating may have hurt the primetime numbers.
In 2016, the Summer Olympics in Rio will lend for more live events in primetime so NBC should see better numbers. In addition, there will be more sports in which Americans can identify.
Advertisers are always looking for eyeballs and the Olympics generate numbers that are usually only reserved for NFL games. Even with a down year for the Winter Olympics, marketers feel the Games still deliver a bang for their bucks.
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