Primetime Ratings: NBC Wins Night With Pre-Opening Ceremony Olympics

NBC kicked off its Sochi Winter Olympics coverage Thursday night—one day prior to Friday night’s opening ceremonies—drawing an 11.8 rating and 18 share among Nielsen metered market households. The metered-market performance was the best for any network since NBC kicked off the NFL season with the Ravens-Broncos game Sept. 5.

In fast-national numbers, NBC averaged a 5.8/16 and 19.56 million viewers with its Olympics coverage to lead all networks.

CBS finished second with a 2.5/7. The Big Bang Theory drew a 5.0, down 4% from last week. The Millers grew 4% to 2.7. The Crazy Ones declined 11% to 1.7 and Two and a Half Men fell 10% to 1.8, both to series lows. Elementary was down 5% at 1.8.

Fox came in third with a 2.1/6. American Idol drew a 3.0, down 6% from last Thursday. Rake was down 15% to a 1.1.

ABC finished fourth with a 1.0/3. The Taste declined 9% from last week to a 1.0.

The CW finished with a 0.8/2. Vampire Diaries was down 18% at 0.9, and Reign was even at 0.6. In the network’s target 18-34 demo,Vampire Diaries drew a 0.9 and Reign earned a 0.5.