Rating the Olympic Franchise.

Broadcasting & Cable, February, 2006

By Ben Grossman Viewership has waned, but many insist the Games still matter While NBC's overall ratings for the Torino Games will end up lower than the network or its advertisers would have liked, industry analysts insist it doesn't represent an erosion of the Olympics' value. Through last Thursday night's ladies figure skating finals, NBC was averaging a 12.4 rating/20 share, down nearly a quarter from the 16.5/27 recorded after 13 days in the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan-the last Winter Games not on U.S.

soil. Media insiders nonetheless say those numbers are not far off from projections. Magna Global Executive VP of Audience Analysis Steve Sternberg notes the Games are averaging about 42% of the overall six-network household viewership (39% in...

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