NBC’s scores are in: Record low Olympics ratings

By DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — NBC will be happy to put the Beijing Winter Olympics in the rear-view mirror, as the event had a record low viewership for an American audience and the Olympics. The games reached an average combined audience of 11.4 million in prime time on NBC, cable and the Peacock streaming service. Those numbers are down 42 percent from the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018. A lack of buzz for the Olympics, held half a world today in an authoritarian country with COVID-19 restrictions, kept large numbers of viewers away. But in a diminished TV world, the Olympics still did better than anything other than pro football this season.