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Nielsen Ratings Saturday, August 16: All Beijing, All The Time...

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August 17th, 2008

Scoreboard NBC CBS FOX ABC
Total Viewers (million) 29.25 4.32 3.77 3.04
Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 9.5/29 1.2/4 1.3/5 0.9/3

...and apparently every footstep of the women's marathon. Please note, these are just the preliminary primetime (8p-11p) numbers and do not actually include the 4x100 medley relay where, with a little help from his friends, Michael Phelps earned his record-breaking eighth gold medal in one Olympic games.

NBC reports that the record breaking event had even more viewers as the 11:00p-11:30p half an hour over 40 million were looking on. This was also NBC's best Saturday night performance since 1990. There's not much to say about the rest of the night. And no point in rehashing how great things are going for NBC with its coverage of the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. If you want the latest data from NBC click the link above as there's a lot of info in there, and some very interesting info on local markets and the results for each of the time zones through nine days of coverage.

Full Details:

Time Network Show Viewers (Millons) 18-49 Rating/Share
8:00 CBS Crimetime Saturday (R) 4.02 1.2/4
NBC Olympics (8p-11p) 29.25 9.5/29
ABC Movie: Legally Blonde 2 (R) 8p-10p 3.33 1.0/3
FOX Cops (R)
9:00 CBS 48 Hours Mystery (R) 9p-11p 4.47 1.2/4
FOX America's Most Wanted (R) 4.07 1.4/5
10:00 ABC Eli Stone (R) 2.46 0.7/2
Half Hourly Olympics Data
8:00 NBC Olympics 16.93 4.8/19
8:30 NBC Olympics 19.50 5.9/21
9:00 NBC Olympics 24.56 7.7/25
9:30 NBC Olympics 28.67 9.2/28
10:00 NBC Olympics 34.80 11.6/34
10:30 NBC Olympics 38.81 13.3/38

Nielsen Ratings Source: Nielsen Media Research. Source Marc Berman/Mediaweek.

Definitions:

Overnights: Local metered-market ratings service of Nielsen Station Index (NSI) in which household ratings and shares are provided to clients the morning following the day or evening of telecast.

Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.

Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. (See also, Rating, which represents tuning or viewing as a percent of the entire population being measured.)

LIVE+SD: The number that watched a program either while it was broadcast OR watched via DVR on the same day [through 3AM the next day] the program was broadcast.

For more information see Numbers 101.

(5) Comments - Add Yours!

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  1. Anyone have data for the 11pm half our of the olympics?
    I thought for sure Phelps would draw over 40 million.

  2. other than the NBC press release linked to above (which said 40mm for 11p-11:30), I haven’t seen anything.

  3. A little more data on Saturday 11p-11:30p on NBC vis the NYT:

    NBC said Saturday’s prime-time broadcast — featuring Mr. Phelps’s eighth gold medal win — was its most-viewed Saturday program in 18 years. From 11 to 11:30 p.m., when the Americans swam in their medal-winning medley relay, 39.9 million viewers were watching, according to Nielsen Media Research.

  4. kc

    Call me crazy but I haven't watched 5 minutes of this stuff. Swimming? Come on. There are like a thousand different races. Someone is going to win a handful of medals no matter what. The other sports…beach volleyball, equestrian. kayaking. ZERO interest for me…The only thing I would watch is the track and everything is tape delayed. I already know who won 12 hours before NBC shows it so there is no way I am staying up until 11 pm to watch a 10, 20, 30 second race….But if you look at what else is on TV that probably explains the ratings. My TV has been off most of the summer…..

  5. kc

    Call me crazy but I haven't watched 5 minutes of this stuff. Swimming? Come on. There are like a thousand different races. Someone is going to win a handful of medals no matter what. The other sports…beach volleyball, equestrian. kayaking. ZERO interest for me…The only thing I would watch is the track and everything is tape delayed. I already know who won 12 hours before NBC shows it so there is no way I am staying up until 11 pm to watch a 10, 20, 30 second race….But if you look at what else is on TV that probably explains the ratings. My TV has been off most of the summer…..

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