RIO DE JANEIRO – August 21, 2016 – With primetime competition completed Saturday night, NBC Olympics’ Total Audience Delivery for the 15 nights of the 2016 Rio Olympics averaged 27.5 million viewers – ranking as the second-highest average audience on record for the primetime competition coverage for any non-domestic Summer Games.
NBC Olympics’ Total Audience Delivery measures broader Rio Olympics consumption by calculating average minute viewing across broadcast, cable, and digital. The 2016 Rio Olympics is the first in U.S. media history with live primetime Olympic coverage on channels other than the primary broadcast network. It is also the first time that the broadcast network coverage, including primetime, has been streamed simultaneously on digital platforms.
Following are the average primetime audiences on record for the 15 nights of competition for non-U.S. Summer Games:
| Summer Games | Total Audience Delivery | Network |
| 2012 London Olympics | 30.3 million viewers | NBC |
| 2016 Rio Olympics | 27.5 million viewers | NBC |
| 2008 Beijing Olympics | 27.2 million viewers | NBC |
| 1992 Barcelona Olympics | 26.4 million viewers | NBC |
| 1988 Seoul Olympics | 25.8 million viewers | NBC |
| 2004 Athens Olympics | 24.9 million viewers | NBC |
| 2000 Sydney Olympics | 21.5 million viewers | NBC |
About NBC Olympics
A division of NBC Sports Group, NBC Olympics is responsible for producing, programming and promoting NBCUniversal’s Olympic Games coverage. It is renowned for its unsurpassed Olympic heritage, award-winning production, and ability to aggregate the largest audiences in U.S. television history. The London 2012 Olympic Games were watched by 217 million Americans across the networks of NBCUniversal, making it the most-watched event in U.S. television history.
--Rio 2016--
