USA Network Ranks as Top Sports/Entertainment Cable Network for First Week of Olympics
Peacock Delivers 3rd Best Usage Day Ever, Powered by Paris Olympics and WWE SummerSlam
U.S. Men’s Basketball Win Over Puerto Rico Draws Nearly 13 Million Viewers Combined (Live NBC/Peacock Coverage + USA Network/Peacock Encore)
STAMFORD, Conn. – August 4, 2024 – NBCUniversal’s presentation of the second Saturday of Paris Olympics competition on NBC, Peacock, and across key NBCU platforms posted a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 34.6 million viewers, according to custom fast national data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics – more than doubling the audience for the comparable Saturday of competition for the Tokyo Olympics (16.4 million across all platforms).
Beginning with Friday’s Opening Ceremony, NBCUniversal has a posted a nine-day Total Audience Delivery average of 32.6 million viewers across the combined live Paris Prime (2-5 p.m. ET) and U.S. primetime (8-11 p.m. ET/PT) time periods – up 77% from Tokyo (18.4 million).
From the opening Saturday of competition through Thursday (most recent competitive data available), USA Network has ranked as the most-watched sports/entertainment cable network in Total Day average viewership (6 a.m.-6 a.m. ET). The three most-watched Team USA team sports events on USA Network: 4.3 million TAD for Men’s Basketball vs. South Sudan (July 31), 4.2 million TAD for Women’s Soccer vs. Germany (July 28), and 3.0 million TAD for Women’s Soccer vs. Japan (August 3).
Saturday’s competition was headlined by Simone Biles and Jade Carey winning respective gold and bronze medals in the vault, Katie Ledecky winning the 800m freestyle for a fourth consecutive Summer Olympics, Ryan Crouser winning a gold medal in the shot put for the third consecutive Summer Olympics, and Sha’Carri Richardson and Melissa Jefferson winning silver and bronze in the women’s 100m.
Live afternoon coverage of the U.S. Men’s basketball team’s victory over Puerto Rico (11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. ET) – which was outside of the 2-5 p.m. ET live “Paris Prime” window – averaged 9.4 million viewers across NBC and Peacock. An additional 3.5 million viewers watched the 6 p.m. ET encore presentation on USA Network and Peacock.
Saturday’s coverage was streamed by 4.4 million viewers on Peacock and NBCU Digital platforms.
Paris Olympics and WWE SummerSlam Power Peacock to Its 3rd Best Usage Day Ever
With a one-two punch of major events on Saturday – the Paris Olympics and WWE SummerSlam – Peacock continued its hot streak with its third best usage day of all-time, behind only the Peacock AFC Wild Card Exclusive last January and last Sunday’s Olympics coverage.
Total Audience Delivery is based upon live-plus-same day custom fast national figures from Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics. Live viewership from 2-5 p.m. ET (Paris Prime) is inclusive of NBC, Peacock, USA Network, E!, CNBC, Paris Extra 1, Paris Extra 2, and additional NBCU digital platforms. Primetime viewership includes NBC, Peacock, USA Network, Paris Extra 1 and Paris Extra 2.
For the latest comprehensive NBCUniversal Paris Olympics schedule information, please visit https://www.nbcolympics.com/schedule.
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