or


[08/23/08 - 02:20 PM]
Beijing Games Set to Become the Most-Watched Television Event in History
NBC spins the numbers for Friday, August 22.

[via press release from NBC]

BEIJING GAMES SET TO BECOME THE MOST-WATCHED TELEVISION EVENT IN HISTORY

208.7 MILLION WATCH BEIJING GAMES ON NBC UNIVERSAL THROUGH 15 DAYS, JUST 300,000 BELOW THE ATLANTA GAMES' 209 MILLION

85 Million Watch on NBC Universal's Cable Nets ; 85% of All U.S. TV Households Have Tuned In

BEIJING � Aug. 23, 2008 � Through 15 days, NBC Universal's Beijing Olympic coverage has reached 208.7 million viewers and is about to surpass the 17-day total for the Atlanta Games, the most viewed event in U.S. television history according to data provided by Nielsen Media Research. The 208.7 million viewers are 11 million more than the first 15 days for Athens (198 million) and 5 million more than the Atlanta Games (204 million). NBCU's cable networks through 15 days have already reached 85 million, surpassing the 17-day viewership total for any previous Olympics.

MOST VIEWED EVENTS IN U.S. TV HISTORY:

1. 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, 209 million (17 days) 2. *2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, 208.7 million (*through 15 days) 3. 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics, 204 million (16 days)

4 . 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, 203 million (17 days) 5. 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, 194 million (17 days)

� The Beijing Olympic 15-day average primetime viewership is 28.1 million, 11 percent ahead of Athens in 2004 (25.3 million). NBC's average of a 16.5 rating, 28 share in households is the best through the final Friday for a Summer Olympics outside the U.S. since Barcelona in 1992 (17.5/34), and is a six percent jump from Athens in 2004 (15.5/27).

� Friday night garnered 46 million total viewers in primetime and 17.6 million average viewers. The night earned a 10.5 rating/19 share. The comparable night in Athens did a 12.5 rating/23 share and averaged 20.1 million viewers.

BEIJING GAMES BOOST NBC UNIVERSAL'S CABLE NETS:

Through 15 days, 85 million have watched the coverage on NBC Universal's cable networks, a 29 percent gain from the first 15 days of the Athens Games (66 million) and more than the 17-day total viewership for any previous Olympics (Athens, 68.6 million).

TAMi FOR THURSDAY: 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 Thursday, Aug. 21:

Thursday, Aug. 21: 87.6 million

TV: 80.5 million, ONLINE 6.7 million, Mobile 447k, TV VOD: n/a

Wednesday, Aug. 20: 91.1 million

Tuesday, Aug. 19: 95.4 million

Monday, Aug. 18: 94.4 million

Sunday, Aug. 17: 107.4 million

Saturday, Aug. 16: 108.0 million

Friday, Aug. 15: 95.1 million

Thursday, Aug. 14: 101.6 million

Wednesday, Aug. 13: 101.0 million

Tuesday, Aug. 12: 105.1 million

Monday, Aug. 11: 103.1 million

Sunday, Aug. 10: 113.1 million

Saturday, Aug. 9: 97.8 million

Friday, Aug. 8: 74.6 million

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.





  [august 2008]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
     


· SHOWATCH
(series past and present)
· DEVWATCH
(series in development)
· MOVIEWATCH
(tv movies and mini-series)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[05/28/26 - 03:23 PM]
2026 NBA Eastern Conference Finals Presented by Dunkin' Finishes Strong with Average Audience of 7.4 Million Viewers Across ESPN and ABC
Additionally, Game 4 on ESPN averaged 7.2 million viewers, marking the most-viewed Eastern Conference Finals Game 4 across any network since 2018.

[05/28/26 - 11:00 AM]
CBS Outpaces Competitors with Eight of the Top 25 Series Across All Streaming and Broadcast Originals in Nielsen's All-Series Ranker
CBS has the most top 25 series of any streaming or broadcast competitor and twice as many as its closest broadcast competitor, including six series with 10+ million viewers.

[05/28/26 - 10:31 AM]
FOX Delivers Most-Watched UFL Game Since League Started in 2024
1,593,000 viewers watched as Louisville defeated Dallas 37-23 on Sunday.

[05/28/26 - 10:26 AM]
FOX Scores with 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500
6,635,000 viewers watched Felix Rosenqvist edge David Malukas by 0.0233 seconds with a last-lap pass to win the Indy 500 Sunday on FOX.

[05/27/26 - 03:13 PM]
FOX Saturday Baseball Draws Strong Audience Over Holiday Weekend
2,355,000 viewers tuned in to the two-game slate highlighted by the Dodgers' 11-3 victory over the Brewers in most of the country.

[05/26/26 - 12:03 PM]
"Off Campus" Season 1 Has Reached 36 Million Viewers Worldwide in Its First 12 Days
Off Campus. On everyone's screen.

[05/26/26 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of May 18 - In Ruthless Pursuit, "Nemesis" Steals No. 1 in This Week's Top 10
Retirement in "The Boroughs" is anything but sleepy as the Duffer Brothers-produced sci-fi series took No. 2 on the list with 5.6 million views.

[05/26/26 - 11:00 AM]
"Dutton Ranch" Is the Biggest Original Series Debut in Paramount+ History
In addition to its record-setting performance on Paramount+, "Dutton Ranch" is also the #1 streaming series according to Nielsen based on average audience for the week of May 11 according to preliminary data.

[05/21/26 - 02:32 PM]
ESPN Delivered Most-Watched NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 1 Since 2018
The New York Knicks overtime victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers on May 19 generated an average audience of 7.1 million viewers and peaked with 8.87 million viewers at 10:45 p.m. ET.

[05/21/26 - 02:00 PM]
"Survivor" Historic 50th Season Concludes with Most-Watched Finale Since 2020
The season finale drew an average of 5.78 million viewers, based on Nielsen Preliminary panel only data.

[05/21/26 - 07:01 AM]
NBC Sports' 2026 SuperMotocross Coverage Delivers Viewership Gains and Milestones
The seven races featured on NBC and Peacock averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 468,000 viewers on NBC and Peacock, up 8% vs. 2025.

[05/20/26 - 03:05 PM]
NBC and Peacock Deliver the Most-Watched Western Conference Finals Game 1 Ever for Monday's Spurs-Thunder Double Overtime Thriller
Coverage peaked with 12.0 million viewers from 11:30-11:43 p.m. ET for the second overtime and game's conclusion.

[05/20/26 - 03:04 PM]
ESPN Aired Its Most Viewed 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round of the Current Rights Deal
Collectively all 11 Second Round games, with nine airing on ESPN and two on ABC, delivered 2.2 million viewers, up 76% year-over-year.

[05/20/26 - 07:36 AM]
After Record-Setting 2025 Season, "Sunday Night Football" Finishes Fall-Spring TV Season as Primetime's No. 1 Show for Unprecedented 15th Consecutive Year
The series averaged 23.5 million viewers in 2025, marking the show's best-ever viewership - up nearly 1 million viewers from the prior record for the series set a decade ago (22.6 million in 2015 season) and an increase of 9% over the '24 season (21.6 million).

[05/19/26 - 02:52 PM]
Subway Series Delivers Second Most-Watched FOX Saturday Baseball Telecast of the Season
2,500,000 viewers tuned-in to the two-game slate highlighted by the Mets' 6-3 victory over the Yankees in most of the country.