NBC: Rio Olympics Live-Streaming Hits 2 Billion Minutes

16 Aug, 2016 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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Streaming video consumption escalates as broadcast viewership declines

NBC Olympics Aug. 16 announced streaming video for Rio 2016 reached two billion live streaming minutes for the first time. That total tops by more than 500 million minutes the combined total of all prior Olympics.

The Aug. 15 NBC-only Rio Olympics coverage averaged 24.3 million viewers and posted a 14.1/24 household rating, according to national data from Nielsen. Also in primetime on Monday, NBCSN’s live Olympic competition coverage averaged 948,000 viewers.

NBC said “total audience delivery,” which measures consumption by calculating average minute viewing across broadcast, cable, and digital, reached 25.5 million viewers Aug. 15 — down from 26.6 million viewers in London four years ago. Those Games had no simultaneous live streaming and no competing primetime Olympic cable coverage.

Indeed, the lower TAD at Rio is largely attributed to lower TV ratings, with a 14.9 Nielsen rating Monday compared to 15.8 at London on the same (second Monday) broadcast day.

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.

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