Viewership for NBC’s coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics continued to fall as Thursday evening delivered both the lowest-rated and least-watched day. Per overnight numbers, NBC’s Thursday night coverage aired to 10.4 million viewers and earned a 2.1 rating in the 18-49 demo. Thursday’s numbers fell below last Friday and last Saturday, which first marked the showings with the smallest audience and lowest ratings, respectively.
Thursday saw a 35% drop in viewership and fell 1.5 in ratings from the previous week, which was the second best-performing night. Viewership for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is about half of what the 2016 Rio Olympics brought in and nearly a third of the London Games’ viewers. Given the new lows, it’s worth noting that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has just more three nights, including Friday.
Primetime eyes weren’t only on the Olympics on Thursday as Fox aired its coverage of the NFL Hall of Fame, which ran from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Fox followed closely behind NBC, which has dominated primetime since the start of the Olympic Games, averaging a 2.0 rating and 7.13M viewers.
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CBS’ Big Brother (0.9, 3.73M) was the third most-watched program on Thursday. Love Island (0.4) followed, bringing in 1.78M viewers.
The night was quiet for ABC, which saw reruns of Holey Moley, When Nature Calls and The Hustler. The CW aired a rerun of William & Kate Royal Anniversary and a new episode of The Outpost.