Parting Schotts: NBC Sports has another drop in viewership for Summer Olympics

Is the magic fading for NBC Sports and its Summer Olympics coverage?

For the second straight night, NBC saw its average viewership drop. An average of 28 million viewers tuned into Saturday night's coverage, the lowest number for the Games so far. That was down from the 28.5 million who watched Friday night.

The 28 million average was also down from the same night four years ago in Beijing, when 31.6 million watched. But it was up 24 percent from the 2004 Games in Athens (22.5 million).

Saturday night's rating was 15.9 and the share was 26. That's down from the 17.8/32 in Beijing, but 17 percent better than Athens (13.6/28).

Here are the time-zone average ratings/shares through nine nights:
Mountain 22.4/39
Pacific 20.7/39
Central 20.5/35
Eastern 19.4/33

Here are the top-20 markets and their average ratings through nine nights:
1. Salt Lake City 27.0/48
2. Milwaukee 25.0/42
3. Kansas City 24.7/41
4. Denver 24.3/46
T5. Columbus, Ohio 23.8/40
T5. Norfolk 23.8/37
T7. Indianapolis 23.3/40
T7. San Diego 23.3/41
9. Richmond 22.4/36
10. West Palm Beach 22.3/37
11. Albuquerque-Santa Fe 22.1/37
12. Minneapolis-St. Paul 22.0/42
13. Washington 21.8/40
T14. St. Louis 21.4/36
T14. Portland, OR 21.4/44
T14. Nashville 21.4/33
T14. Austin, TX 21.4/39
T14. Ft. Myers-Naples 21.4/38
19. Oklahoma City 21.3/34
20. Sacramento-Stockton 21.2/39

Source: http://www.dailygazette.com/weblogs/schott/2012/aug/05/nbc-sports-has-another-drop-in-viewership-for-summ/

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