NEW YORK (AP) — Thanks to Katie Ledecky, Michael Phelps and the American women's gymnastics team, Sunday was a bounce-back night for NBC in ratings for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
NBC's prime-time telecast averaged 29.8 million viewers Sunday, higher than Friday's opening ceremony and nine million more than Saturday's lackluster first night of competition. The stars aligned for NBC on Sunday, with Phelps and Ledecky in gold medal-winning swims that were aired live, and a dominating performance by the gymnasts.
It was still below the 36 million viewers NBC had for the corresponding Sunday at the 2012 London Games.