Perhaps it is being at least a little smug, (note the headline of the release below) but with numbers like these, it's hard to blame them for puffing out their feathers and strutting like the peacocks they are. It's not like NBC has gotten to do this often in recent history. The 180 million television viewers represents total, unduplicated unique viewers who have watched at least 6 minutes of Summer Olympics Games programming on NBC according to data from The Nielsen Company.
NBC UNIVERSAL DOMINATES COMPETITION
180 Million Total Viewers Through Seven Days
Video Streams on NBCOlympics.com on MSN More Than Doubles Total Streams From Athens and Torino Combined
BEIJING -Aug. 16, 2008 -The Networks of NBC Universal have reached 180 million total viewers, 30.6 million average viewers in primetime and a rating of 17.7 rating/30 share, each posting significant gains compared to Athens in 2004. Additionally NBC Universal's primetime delivery has dominated the competition for seven straight nights and Wednesday's TAMi reached 100.9 Million.
- Through seven days NBCU has attracted 180 million total viewers, 15 million more than the first seven days for Athens (165 million).
- NBC's primetime Olympics telecasts have towered over all competition, more than doubling the combined results of ABC, CBS and Fox in average viewers on each of the seven nights of Olympic coverage to date. For the seven nights of the Games to date, NBC's average of 30.6 million viewers beat the average combined totals of the other three networks by 171 percent: CBS (5.1 million), ABC (3.2 million) and Fox (3.0 million).
- Through Thursday night, NBC's primetime Olympics average viewership was outdelivering the viewership of the next 14 top-scoring ad-supported English-language broadcast and cable networks combined.
- NBC's Beijing Olympic seven-day average primetime viewership is 30.6 million, more than 13 percent ahead of Athens in 2004 (27.0 million). The national rating average of 17.7/30 is the best primetime rating through the first Thursday for a Summer Olympics outside the U.S. since Barcelona in 1992 (19.0/35) and is a nine percent jump from Athens in 2004 (16.2/28).
- Thursday night garnered 76 million total viewers in primetime and 29.7 million average viewers, within two million of the comparable night in Athens (31.7). The night earned a 17.9 rating/31 share, which is a seven percent decline (19.3/32). The comparable night in 2004 was the highest rated night of the entire Athens Games, which saw Carly Patterson win the USA's first women's all-around gold medal since Mary Lou Retton in 1984.
NBCOLYMPICS.COM ON MSN STREAMS MORE VIDEOS THAN ATHENS AND TORINO COMBINED: Through just seven days of the Beijing Games, NBCOlympics.com has already generated more than 25.6 million streams, 15 million more than the combined total of video streams from the entire Athens and Torino Games, a gain of 138 percent.
TAMI FOR WEDNESDAY: The TAMi (Total Audience Measurement Index) measures the 3600 hours of programming during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, including Television (P2+ reach), Online (Unique Users), Mobile (WAP unique users and Mobile VOD unique users) and TV VOD (unique users). Below is the TAMi measurement through Tuesday, Aug. 12:
Wednesday, Aug. 13: 100.9 million
TV: 93.0 million, ONLINE: 7.4 million, MOBILE: 486k, TV VOD: 38k
Tuesday, Aug. 12: 105.0 million
Monday, Aug. 11: 103.1 million
Sunday, Aug. 10: 113.0 million
Saturday, Aug. 9: 97.8 million
Friday, Aug. 8: 74.6 million
You can see the complete TAMi #s through Thursday here.
NBC Universal, broadcasting its record 11th Olympics and surpassing ABC for the most Olympics broadcast by any network, is presenting an unprecedented 3,600 hours of Beijing Olympic Games coverage, the most ambitious single media project in history featuring the most live coverage (nearly 2,900 live hours in total), across the most platforms, of any Summer Olympics in history.
These games are addictive. Two weeks seems too short. It is amazing how well conditioned these top athletes are. From the look of things, Phelps is The Man this year.
What I find incredible, is even pulling in these numbers, NBC will likely not even turn a profit on these games. 1 billion in ad sales is almost exactly equal to the 1 billion dollars in rights and production costs.
What is NBC thinking with the Saturday night coverage. I have sat watching the women's marathon for almost an hour without any other coverage. Who do they think is gong to hang on to every minute of such an event which won't end for 2 and !/2 hours or more.
I can't believe that NBC is torturing us with step by step women's marathon without showing any soccer in prime time! WTF?!
Yes and NBC is lucky we can't get Eurofeed or any other source as they're doing a poor job of making sure we see the entire event.
I watch but yearn for the type of coverage other countries get. No reason you need to go to spot breaks every 3 minutes.
Yes and NBC is lucky we can't get Eurofeed or any other source as they're doing a poor job of making sure we see the entire event.
I watch but yearn for the type of coverage other countries get. No reason you need to go to spot breaks every 3 minutes.