Olympics Ratings: After One Week, a Big Up Arrow

The bar was set low with Torino, but so far, NBC is having no trouble showing strong gains over the last Games.

With a week of ratings now in the books, NBC is showing double digit ratings gains with its coverage of the Vancouver Olympics.

Through seven nights, the Peacock is averaging 26.7 million viewers for its primetime coverage and an overall audience of 26.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen. That’s up sharply from the record low ratings of the 2006 Torino games, which notched a 6.4/16 and 20.9 million viewers after one week.

The up arrows continued on Thursday, as the continued U.S. gold rush helped the Olympics average a 7.1/19 in primetime. While down from Wednesday’s big numbers, it was still well ahead of the relatively paltry 6.1/16 NBC earned on the same night in Torino.

As for the competition, CBS did OK with the second week of "Survivor" (3.9/11), though the Games sent ratings down 13 percent from last week’s premiere.

ABC’s "The Deep End" cemented its imminent death sentence with a 1.1/3 at 8 p.m., its lowest number yet. Predictably, "Grey’s Anatomy" (3.7/9) dropped 16 percent to its lowest average ever.

And over at Fox, "Past Life" (1.1/3) continues to make its case for cancellation — and make once and future 9 p.m. timeslot occupant "Fringe" look like a powerhouse in comparison.

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