Alerts & Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

‘The Bachelor,’ ‘Celebrity Big Brother,’ NBA All-Star Game Lead Winter Olympics Counterprogramming — Ratings Watch

Reality rules, as only two scripted series (both repeats) make it on to the Top 25 ranker for the week ending Feb. 18.
Britain's skip Kyle Smith, second from left, stands behind United States's skip John Shuster during their men's curling match at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South KoreaPyeongchang Olympics Curling Men, Gangneung, South Korea - 21 Feb 2018
Britain's skip Kyle Smith, second from left, stands behind United States's skip John Shuster during their men's curling match at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea
Aaron Favila/AP/REX/Shutterstock

NBC’s Winter Olympics juggernaut from PyeongChang, South Korea, continued to dominate the primetime ratings for the week ending Feb. 18, but audiences not feeling the Olympic fever had plenty of other options — particularly of the unscripted variety.

The night of Tuesday, Feb. 13 was the most-watched night of the Olympics last week, featuring Shaun White and Mikaela Shiffrin going for gold. All seven nights of the Olympics were the top-rated programs of the week, among both adults 18-49 and viewers. Viewership is down from the 2014 Sochi Games, although still solid. Here’s a side-by-side comparison so far from NBC:

WINTER OLYMPICS PRIMETIME TOTAL AUDIENCE DELIVERY
                             2018 Viewership          2014 Viewership

Opening Thur.   17.2 million                    20.0 million
First Fri.             28.3 million                   31.7 million
First Sat.            24.2 million                   25.1 million
First Sun.           26.0 million                   26.3 million
First Mon.          22.3 million                   22.4 million
First Tues.         22.6 million                   23.7 million
First Wed.          19.2 million                   20.8 million
Mid. Thur.          19.3 million                   22.9 million
Mid. Fri.             19.2 million                   19.2 million
Mid. Sat.            16.1 million                   17.1 million
Mid. Sun.           18.2 million                   21.3 million
2nd Mon.           18.6 million                   23.5 million
2nd Tues.           20.5 million                  18.9 million
2nd Wed.           16.4 million                   20.2 million
Final Thur.          17.6 million                   20.3 million
Average              20.6 million                  22.4 million

With scripted programming mostly on hold or in repeats, it was sports and reality TV that dominated the week’s rankers. The NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 18, was the top-rated program outside of the Olympics, followed by ABC’s “The Bachelor” and then four nights of CBS’ special “Celebrity Big Brother.” In cable, Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Atlanta” was the top-rated program of the week, while MTV’s “Teen Mom,” Discovery’s “Gold Rush,” USA’s “WWE Raw,” Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and VH1’s “Love and Hip-Hop Miami” also made the Top 25.

According to Xfinity, viewers used the break in original fare to catch up on “The Sopranos,” which made it back on to the list of top video on-demand shows last week, as well as a big leap for “Celebrity Big Brother” and a new entrant in Starz’s “Counterpart.”

Here are this week’s rankers:

Adults 18-49 ranker, week ending Feb. 18, 2018:

 

RANK

SHOW & NETWORK

LIVE+3
DAYS
DVR/VOD

RATING

WATCHED
LIVE/
SAME
DAY

RATING

1

Winter Olympics Tuesday Prime NBC 

5.4

5.2

2

Winter Olympics Monday Prime NBC

5.3

5.2

3

Winter Olympics Wednesday Prime NBC

 4.1

4.0

tie

Winter Olympics Thursday Prime NBC

4.1

3.9

5

Winter Olympics Friday Prime NBC

4.0

3.8

6

Winter Olympics Sunday Prime NBC

3.9

3.8

7

Winter Olympics Saturday Prime NBC

3.6

3.5

8

2018 NBA All-Star Game TNT

2.8

2.8

9

NBA All-Star Saturday Night TNT

2.2

2.1

10

The Bachelor ABC 

2.0

1.5

11

Celebrity Big Brother Monday CBS

1.7

1.3

12

Celebrity Big Brother Friday CBS

1.6

1.0

tie

Celebrity Big Brother Wednesday CBS

1.6

1.3

tie

Celebrity Big Brother Sunday CBS

1.6

1.2

15

Real Housewives of Atlanta Bravo

1.3

0.9

tie

Teen Mom MTV

1.3

0.6

17

The Amazing Race CBS

1.2

0.9

tie

The Big Bang Theory 8 p.m. CBS

1.2

1.1

tie

Gold Rush Discovery

1.2

0.9

tie

NBA Basketball: Cavaliers vs. Thunder TNT

1.2

1.2

tie

WWE Raw USA

1.2

1.1

22

The Bachelor Winter Games Tuesday ABC

1.1

0.8

tie

Shark Tank ABC

1.1

0.7

tie

20/20 Special: Roseanne Returns ABC

1.1

0.8

tie

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Bravo

1.1

0.5

tie

Young Sheldon CBS

1.1

1.0

tie

The Big Bang Theory 9 p.m. CBS

1.1

1.1

tie

Love & Hip Hop Miami VH1

1.1

0.8

Adults 18-49; ratings points. Source: Nielsen Media Research
The cast of “Celebrity Big Brother”CBS

Total viewers ranker, week ending Feb. 18, 2018:

RANK

SHOW & NETWORK

LIVE+3
DAYS
DVR/VOD

WATCHED
LIVE/
SAME
DAY

1

Winter Olympics Tuesday Prime NBC

21.30

20.53

2

Winter Olympics Monday Prime NBC

20.91

20.33

3

Winter Olympics Wednesday Prime NBC 

 17.59

17.08

4

Winter Olympics Friday Prime NBC

17.23

16.59

5

Winter Olympics Sunday Prime NBC 

 16.88

16.38

6

Winter Olympics Thursday Prime NBC

16.82

16.22

7

Winter Olympics Saturday Prime NBC

14.99

14.53

8

60 Minutes CBS

8.00

7.51

9

The Big Bang Theory 8 p.m. CBS

7.71

7.40

10

Young Sheldon CBS

7.46

7.11

11

NCIS CBS

7.29

6.95

12

The Bachelor ABC

7.00

5.96

13

2018 NBA All-Star Game TNT 

6.62

6.47

 14

The Big Bang Theory 9 p.m. CBS

6.39

6.12

15

Celebrity Big Brother Wednesday CBS

6.16

5.21

16

Celebrity Big Brother Monday CBS

6.10

5.16

17

Celebrity Big Brother Sunday CBS

5.97

4.91

18

Bull CBS

5.89

5.58

19

Celebrity Big Brother Friday CBS

5.88

4.38

20

The Amazing Race CBS

5.58

4.11

21

NCIS: New Orleans CBS

5.45

5.10

22

America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 

5.38

5.04

23

The Good Doctor ABC 

5.27

4.74

tie

Mom CBS 

5.26

4.97

25

NBA All-Star Saturday Night TNT

4.86

4.68

Total viewers; in millions. Source: Nielsen Media Research
THE BACHELOR WINTER GAMES - ÒEpisode 104Ó -ÊItÕs the final countdown for the remaining couples who will face off in the final event Ð Couples Ice Dancing. As this journey comes to an end, feelings grow deeper and bonds become stronger on the season finale of ÒThe Bachelor Winter Games,Ó airing THURSDAY, FEB. 22 (8:00-10:00 p.m. EST), on The ABC Television Network. (ABC/Lorenzo Bevilaqua)ASHLEY BREWER, CHRIS HARRISON, ASHLEY IACONETTI, KEVIN WENDT, NASTASSIA YARAMCHUK, LUKE PELL, LILY MCMANUS, COURTNEY DOBER, LESLEY MURPHY, DEAN UNGLERT
“The Bachelor Winter Games”ABC

Here is this week’s Xfinity On Demand ranker:

Top 20 TV Series, Feb. 12-18, 2018:

RANK

SHOW

NETWORK

1

This Is Us

NBC

2

Game of Thrones

HBO

3

Celebrity Big Brother

 CBS

4

Homeland

Showtime

5

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

 FX

6

9-1-1

Fox

7

The Good Doctor

 ABC

8

The Bachelor Winter Games

ABC

9

The Chi

Showtime

10

Divorce

HBO

11

Shameless

Showtime

12

The Simpsons

Fox

13

The Alienist

TNT

14

Grown-ish

Freeform

15

The Bachelor

ABC

16

Family Guy

Adult Swim

17

 Keeping Up with the Kardashians

E!

18

Teen Mom O.G.

MTV

19

The Sopranos

HBO

20

Counterpart

Starz

Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest TV news! Sign up for our TV email newsletter here.

Daily Headlines
Daily Headlines covering Film, TV and more.

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Must Read
PMC Logo
IndieWire is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 IndieWire Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.