Olympics Ratings Roundup: NBC Records Most-Watched First Wednesday of Any Non-U.S. Summer Games Since 1976
Compiled by Karen Hogan, Associate Editor, Sports Video Group
Each night of the 2012 London Olympics to date has drawn higher viewership and household ratings than the first six nights of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2004 Athens Olympics, the last European Summer Olympics, according to official national data provided by The Nielsen Company. Wednesday’s coverage, which featured two more gold medals in the pool for the U.S. (Nathan Adrian in the 100m freestyle and the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay), and Danell Leyva taking bronze for the U.S. in the men’s gymnastics all-around, drew 30.8 million viewers, the most-watched first Wednesday of any non-U.S. Summer Olympics in 36 years (Montreal 1976). Wednesday’s primetime coverage on NBC (8-11:26 p.m. ET/PT) earned a 17.9/30 national rating/share, seven percent higher than the first Wednesday night of the Beijing Olympics (16.7/28), and three percent higher than the first Wednesday night in Athens in 2004 (17.3/29), the last European Summer Olympics…
…Ratings momentum did not slow for the London Games on Thursday night. NBC’s Olympic broadcast raked in 35.7 million viewers and a 10.3 rating among adults 18-49, according to fast affiliate numbers. Up eight percent from the same night in Beijing, London is now averaging seven percent higher in adults 18-49 and 14 percent higher among total viewers…
…Tuesday night’s primetime coverage on NBC (8-11:43 p.m. ET/PT) earned a 21.8/35 national rating/share, the highest-rated night in any Summer Olympics since the 1996 Atlanta Games, and drew 38.7 million viewers, the most for the first Tuesday of a non-U.S. Summer Games in the history of televised Summer Olympics (Rome, 1960). With 38.7 million viewers, last night was the most-watched first Tuesday for any non-U.S. Olympics in the history of televised Olympics (Rome 1960)…
…Monday night’s primetime coverage on NBC (8-11:23 p.m. ET/PT) drew 31.6 million viewers, the most for the first Monday of a non-U.S. Summer Games in 36 years (37.7 million for Montreal in 1976). Last night’s viewership is 1.4 million more than the first Monday night of the 2008 Beijing Olympics (30.2 million), and is 4.5 million more than the first night of the 2004 Athens Olympics (27.1 million), the last European Summer Olympics…
…Telemundo is also experiencing Olympics ratings success. The network’s coverage of the first three days of the 2012 London Olympics widely surpassed the 2008 Beijing Olympics audience delivery for the same period, registering 69% growth in total viewers and 58% among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen. Produced exclusively for the Hispanic audience, the Telemundo Olympic broadcast, led by award-winning sportscaster Andres Cantor, delivered a total cumulative viewership of 9.4 million viewers for the first three days, 12% more than the first three days of the Beijing Olympics. Telemundo Media’s digital properties posted strong results registering 269K visitors from July 25 to July 30.This generated 383K total visits with 627K streams (822% more than Beijing) and 3.6M page views…
…Golf Channel recorded the most-watched July in the network’s 17-year history according to data released today by The Nielsen Company, extending its consecutive streak of “best ever” months to six in 2012. Golf Channel’s July delivery was up 36 percent over July 2011, averaging 95,000 viewers per any minute over a 24-hour period. Based upon six consecutive quarters of growth since becoming part of the NBC Sports Group, Golf Channel is television’s fastest-growing network among those servicing more than 80 million homes.
