Winter Olympics won last week’s rating game for NBC, but Fox’s ‘American Idol’ held its own

Winter Olympics win the week’s rating game for NBC

NEW YORK — Nielsen says the Winter Olympics ruled in the ratings last week, treating NBC to an audience roughly three times the size of its closest rival, Fox.

But Fox didn’t come up empty. “American Idol” placed fifth and ninth in the week’s Top 10 rankings. “Idol” even beat the Olympics head-to-head on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, CBS’ recently introduced reality show, “Undercover Boss,” seized a commanding 10th place.

Overall for the week, NBC trampled its competition with nearly 25 million viewers. Fox averaged 8.7 million, followed by CBS, ABC and the CW.

As usual, NBC’s “Nightly News” won the evening newscast race.