NBC finally has released the ratings for Day 3 of the Olympics. Interest is very high and NBC could not be more pleased with the first three primetime broadcast. And thanks to the live internet streaming, NBCOlympics.com is also gaining momentum.
107 MILLION WATCH OLYMPICS SUNDAY – MOST WATCHED FIRST SUNDAY IN SUMMER OLYMPICS HISTORYTotal Viewership for Beijing Games Surpasses 143 Million – Half of All AmericansMore Than 1 Million Video Streams of Sunday’s USA Swimming Gold Medal Relay Accessed at NBCOlympics.com
BEIJING –Aug. 12, 2008 – A total of 107 million people, half of Americans watched the Beijing Olympics Sunday on the Networks of NBC Universal – making it the MOST WATCHED first Sunday in Summer Olympics history, according to data provided by Nielsen Media Research. Eighty-one million watched NBC in primetime as swimming superstar Michael Phelps, with his USA teammates, won his second gold medal of the Beijing Games and his eighth career Olympic gold medal in the 4x100 Freestyle Relay last night. Additionally, more than one million streams of the race have been accessed on demand today at NBCOlympics.com.
Sunday's Beijing Olympic coverage on the Networks of NBC Universal reached 107 million total viewers making it the most watched first Sunday in Summer Olympics history, 16 million ahead of the comparable Sunday from Athens in 2004 (91 million).
Through three days NBCU has attracted 143 million total viewers, 17 million more than the first three days for Athens (126 million),
NBC's Beijing Olympic three-day average viewership is 30.4 million, 6 million more than Athens in 2004 (24.0 million). The national rating average of 17.0/30 is the best primetime rating through the first Sunday for a non-U.S. Summer Olympics since Montreal in 1976 (18.1/43) and is a 21 percent jump from Athens in 2004 (14.1/26).
Sunday night's 31.7 million average viewers bested Athens by 6 million viewers (25.8) and earned a 17.9 rating/31 share, a 16 percent jump from Athens in 2004 (15.4/26).
NBC's primetime coverage, which included Michael Phelps collecting his second Beijing gold medal and eighth career Olympic gold medal in the 4x100m relay, and Bob Costas' interview with President Bush, peaked with a 21.0/32 and 38.4 million average viewers in the 9:30 p.m. half hour.
MORE PHELPS TONIGHT IN PRIMETIME ON NBC:
Tonight will be another busy day for Michael Phelps, and it's all in primetime on NBC. First, he'll swim for what could be his record-tying ninth career Olympic gold medal and third gold medal of the Beijing Games in an event he dominates, the 200m freestyle. Less than an hour later, the semifinal in another Phelps-dominated event, the 200m butterfly.
Then on Tuesday in primetime, Michael Phelps could become the greatest Olympian of all-time, swimming in two gold medal finals – the 200m butterfly and 4x200m freestyle relay. It is the only night where he could potentially win two gold medals – and he set world records and won both swims at the 2007 World Championships. This could be the night when Phelps breaks the all-time record for career gold medals, which is currently nine and shared by four athletes, including USA's Carl Lewis and Mark Spitz.
NBC's Olympic Swimming Commentators on last night's historic 4x100m Relay:
"That race is why we get into the business of sports broadcasting." – Dan Hicks
"It's certainly the greatest Olympic relay race I've ever seen." – Rowdy Gaines
ONE MILLION PLUS STREAMS OF LAST NIGHT'S RELAY ACCESSED AT NBCOLYMPICS.COM ON MSN: As of 4:30 p.m. ET today 1.1 million video streams of last night's historic 4x100m relay have been accessed at NBCOlympics.com, making it the most watched video ever from the site.
NBCOlympics.com on MSN continued its dominance on Sunday with 66.7 million page views, 5.1 million unique users and more than 3.4 million video streams.
Through three days NBCOlympics.com has totaled 199.3 million page views. By the day's end NBCOlympics.com will have surpassed the total page views for the entire 2004 Athens Games (229.9 million).
NBCOlympics.com's total video streams to date are 11.1 million, which is five times more than the total for the entire Athens Games (2.2 million).
TOP VIDEO STREAMS TODAY ON NBCOLYMPICS.COM:
1. U.S. Wins 4x100m Relay
2. Beijing and Beyond Feature
3. Phelps wins 400m IM
4. Women's Fencing - Foil
5. U.S.-China Basketball preview
NBC could not be more pleased with the numbers to date.
