There’s a luster of gold in the air this summer as the world prepares for 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. Athletes from all over the world competing in athletic events from swimming to track and field to artistic gymnastics will come together in South America to honor the best in the world with gold, silver and bronze. And NBC will be celebrating its own gold medal in ratings, as the Games are notoriously a ratings juggernaut. In fact, the Olympic Trials have begun in swimming, and the presence of phenom Michael Phelps gave NBC an uptick in the ratings that had it competing with CBS’s popular reality show, Big Brother, according to Deadline.
This year’s Summer Olympic Games in Rio will air on NBC from August 5th through August 21st. As Deadline reports, NBC is planning a full slate of multiplatform coverage that will include over 2,084 hours of Olympic coverage on 11 different networks, as well as their website and app. But no coverage is more popular that the daily primetime airings of the day’s events.
Not only are major sporting events like the Olympics a great opportunity for a network to bolster their ratings, they can also be a boon for the shows that immediately follow, and NBC has announced the shows that will be receiving the Olympic bump this year. And the medals go to… reality singing competition, The Voice, and sophomore comedy, Superstore. As Variety reports, Superstore will air an Olympics-themed episode, which will air on August 19th after the Olympics coverage. The Voice will air a special 30-minute episode featuring blind auditions and the introduction of new coaches, Alicia Keys and Miley Cyrus. The episode will air immediately following the Closing Ceremony on August 21st.
NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt told Variety, “The Olympics give us a unique chance to expose some of our strongest shows to millions of viewers who might not otherwise see them.” He then added, “Much appreciation to Mark Lazarus and our sports division who bring us the gift of the Olympics every two years.”
Superstore is a half-hour workplace comedy starring America Ferrera set in a Walmart-like big box store. It premiered last fall and was the only fall comedy renewed for a second season. After its Olympic episode, Superstore will make its official fall premiere on September 19th. The Voice is much more of a veteran, and will be returning this fall for its Season 11 premiere on September 22nd. New judges Keys and Cyrus will be joined by returning judges Adam Levine and Blake Shelton.