VANCOUVER, CANADA—Through Saturday, 97 million people have watched the Vancouver Olympics Winter Games on the networks of NBCU; nine million more than watched the first two days of the Torino Games in 2006 (88 million) and the most since the tabloid-fueled 1994 Lillehammer Games (100 million), according to data released today by Nielsen Media Research.

"It's simply remarkable for a Saturday night, television's least-watched night, to surpass the audience total for every one of the 17 nights of the last Winter Olympics without the benefit of figure skating - the single biggest event in a Winter Games - which was the featured event of the first Saturday night in Torino," said Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports and Olympics.



More viewers than every night in Torino: The first night of competition on NBC averaged 26.2 million viewers and did not feature figure skating, 13 percent higher than the first Saturday night in Torino (23.2 million), which featured figure skating (pairs short program). The average audience from Saturday night is higher than every single night of the Torino Games. This is especially remarkable given that Saturday night traditionally has the smallest audience of any primetime night.

NBC's Saturday night broadcast was seen by 55 million total viewers, six million more than the first night of competition from Torino (49 million).

2-Day average best since tabloid-fueled Lillehammer games: The 30.0 million average viewers for the first two days of the Vancouver Games is the most for a non-U.S. Winter Olympics since the *tabloid-fueled 1994 Lillehammer Games (39.9 million). The 30.0 million is 33 percent higher than the two-day average viewership from Torino (22.6 million).

*Fueled by the tabloid coverage of the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding scandal.

The national household rating of 14.0/25 for Saturday night is an increase of four percent over Torino in 2006 (13.5/23). The 15.9/28 average household rating to date is up 21 percent from Torino (13.1/22) and the best for a non-U.S. Winter Games since Lillehammer (25.2/38).

The network's Saturday live afternoon coverage from 2-6 p.m. ET that featured Al Michaels debut as daytime host, returning to the Olympics for the first time in 22 years, and featured speed skating, ski jumping and biathlon drew 13.1 million viewers a gain of 25 percent over the first Saturday afternoon in Torino (10.5 million).


Metered Market Ratings by Time Zone (2-day average)

Mountain Time Zone 19.9/35
Pacific Time Zone 17.8/34
Central Time Zone 17.3/29
Eastern Time Zone 17.2/28


Top 25 Metered Markets for Saturday, February 13

1. Milwaukee, 22.2/38
2. Salt Lake City, 21.4/38
3. Minneapolis, 21.3/39
4. Columbus, 20.9/34
5. Seattle, 20.6/40
6. Denver, 20.4/37
7. Cleveland, 19.3/33
8. Portland, 18.6/36
9. St. Louis, 18.4/32
10. Austin, 18.1/32
11. Richmond, 18.0/29
12. Sacramento, 17.9/33
13. Pittsburgh, 17.5/28
14. Norfolk, 17.3/27
15. Nashville, 17.2/27
16. Tulsa, 17.1/27
17. Kansas City, 17.0/28
18. Phoenix, 16.9/30
T19. Boston, 16.6/31
T19. Indianapolis, 16.6/29
T19. Cincinnati, 16.6/28
22. Washington, D.C., 16.5/27
T23. San Diego, 16.2/31
T23. Providence, 16.2/29
25. Baltimore, 16.1/27

NBC Universal, broadcasting its record 12th Olympics the most Olympics broadcast by any network, will present more than 835 hours of Vancouver Olympic Winter Games coverage - representing the most total hours ever for a Winter Olympics, more than the last two Winter Olympics combined, and the most live hours ever for a Winter Games. The Vancouver Games are the first Winter Olympics to be presented entirely in high definition.