NBC pays about $1 billion every two years for its Olympics TV rights, and made about $120 million in profit during the 2012 London games.
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A Netherland’s fan cheers during the men’s field hockey Argentina vs Netherlands match of the Rio 2016 Olympics Games at the Olympic Hockey Centre in Riode Janeiro on August, 6 2016.
Working against the ratings draw was also the earlier go-time for the U.S. Olympic Team during the Parade of Nations. That came an hour earlier than in London. Tip is at 7 p.m. Team USA aside, there are plenty of hoopsters from across the world to watch.
The London audience translated into 40.7 million viewers.
The Independent Commission of WADA, chaired by Canadian law professor, Richard McLaren, released the now-infamous July 18 report on the results of a probe into the accusations of doping and manipulation of tests by Russian athletes and officials at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
The Independent Panel of the IOC ruled on Friday to allow Russian swimmers Nikita Lobintsev and Vladimir Morozov to participate in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. The only kick-off to pull a higher number in recent history, thanks the domestic venue, was Salt Lake City’s 2002 Winter Olympics. The low side of the event was Brazil’s interim President Michel Temer who declared open the first Games ever in South America was booed by a section of the crowd due to the political scandal engulfing Brazil. Among the big four US broadcast networks, NBC is in second place in total prime-time audience for the TV season that began in September, averaging 7.61 million viewers a night. The Rio audience was an estimated 26.5 million, which is still mighty impressive given the way technology is changing.
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Updates will arrive later – as will 16 more days’ worth of ratings. In the meantime, here’s a look at how the last eight Olympic opening ceremonies have performed, in final household ratings and total viewers, since NBC took over the broadcast contract.
