Several factors contribute to NBC’s low Olympic ratings
By JOE REEDY
AP Sports Writer
NBC’s Mike Tirico began Friday’s opening ceremony by saying “just over six months ago in Tokyo, we said we were about to embark on an Olympics unlike any other. Now we’re about to top that.” But in the case of ratings topping that has meant producing record lows. NBC is on track for the lowest-rated Winter Games in history through the first four nights of competition. Friday night’s coverage on NBC, USA Network and Peacock averaged 12.8 million viewers. That is significantly down from the 27.8 million average in Pyeongchang four years ago. Thursday night’s audience of 8 million marks the smallest primetime Olympics audience on record.