Tuesday Ratings: More Considerable Erosion for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics

Tuesday 7/27/21 Fast Affiliate Ratings

Total Viewers:
NBC: 13.56 million, CBS: 2.13, ABC: 1.27, Fox: 778,000, CW: 629,000

Adults 18-49:
NBC: 3.2 rating/23 share, CBS: 0.3/ 2, ABC and Fox: 0.2/ 1 each, CW: 0.1/ 1

Excluding streaming, night 4 of the Tokyo Summer Olympics on NBC scored an estimated 13.56 million viewers and a 3.3 rating/23 share in adults 18-49 in primetime, based on these fast affiliate ratings (which are time period based). For comparative purposes, here are the national rating results for the five most recent night 5 national rating results. While the inclusion of streaming will certainly give the Tokyo Summer Olympics a boost, it still does not compare to the summer games in Rio, London, Beijing, Athens and Sydney.

Night 5
Total Viewers
2021 – Tokyo: 13.56 million
2016 – Rio: 33.4 million
2012 – London: 38.7 million
2008 – Beijing: 34.0 million
2004 – Athens: 30.1 million
2000 – Sydney: 24.1 million

Adults 18-49 Rating
2021 – Tokyo: 3.2 
2016 – Rio: 8.6 
2012 – London: 10.6 
2008 – Beijing: 10.6
2004 – Athens: 9.9
2000 – Sydney: 8.2

Of course, NBCUniversal now has a serious early makegoods issue for the Olympics — due to under-delivery of expected viewers. 

Elsewhere, the only other original airing last night was “Love Island” on CBS, which scored 1.63 million viewers and a 0.4/ 2 in adults 18-49 – second in both categories — in the Tuesday 9 p.m. hour.

UPDATED 8/05/2021: What follows are the Live + Seven Day rating results for the night’s network telecasts on Tuesday, July 27:

Source: Nielsen Media Research