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
[07/03/25 - 02:33 PM]
ABC News Same-Day Primetime Special "Verdict: The Diddy Trial" Is No. 1 in Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54
Versus the competition in the time period, "Verdict: The Diddy Trial" outperformed NBC by +40% in Adults 18-49 (212,000 vs. 151,000) and +22% in Adults 25-54.

[07/02/25 - 06:44 PM]
Tyler Perry's "Divorced Sistas" Quickly Rises to Become BET+'s Most Watched Original Series in Platform History
Just halfway through the eight-episode season, existing subscribers and new fans of the show have boosted the drama series to the most-watched series premiere on BET+ in just three weeks.

[07/02/25 - 02:38 PM]
Hallmark Channel Earns #1 Most-Watched Network on Weekends Throughout June with "Passport to Love" Programming Event
"Passport to Love" helped elevate Hallmark Channel to be the #1 most-watched network on weekends throughout the month of June.

[07/01/25 - 12:01 PM]
Top 10 Week of June 23: "Squid Game" Season 3 Takes Over with Record-Breaking Global Debut at No. 1
"The Waterfront" was a Top 10 hit once more as the No. 1 series on the English TV list (11.6 million views).

[07/01/25 - 10:26 AM]
ESPN Formula 1 Viewership Notes After Austrian Grand Prix
ESPN's live telecast on Sunday, June 29, averaged 1.1 million viewers, a two percent gain over last year's race and the largest audience ever for the event on U.S. television.

[07/01/25 - 09:16 AM]
ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" Featuring the Minnesota Twins vs. Detroit Tigers Averaged 2 Million Viewers - Up 66% from Last Year's Comparable Game
The audience peaked with 2,304,000 viewers in the 9:15 p.m. ET quarter hour.

[06/27/25 - 02:29 PM]
"Live with Kelly and Mark" Gears Up for Summer Rising Week to Week in All Key Measures
Wednesday, June 11, was the most-viewed day of the week among Total Viewers (2.164 million).

[06/27/25 - 10:31 AM]
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" Tops Late-Night in Adults 18-49 for Third Week in a Row
Winning three of five nights in Kimmel's final week before summer guest hosts, Thursday, June 19, was the show's strongest night among Adults 18-49 (0.35 rating).

[06/25/25 - 11:55 AM]
Prime Video Finishes Groundbreaking First Season of Exclusive NASCAR Coverage
According to Nielsen, NASCAR on Prime posted a season average of 2.16 million viewers (AMA P2+) across five events, and attracted droves of younger viewers to its live coverage.

[06/25/25 - 07:58 AM]
ABC News Primetime Special "Karen Read: The Verdict - A Special Edition of 20/20" Ranks #1 Across All of Broadcast and Cable in Adults 18-49
Plus: "Karen Read: The Verdict" placed No. 1 based on views among all titles on Hulu on Thursday (6/19), Friday (6/20) and Saturday (6/21).

[06/24/25 - 03:03 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in All Key Target Demos 18-49 vs. CBS' "After Midnight" and NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers" for 2nd Consecutive Week, and Claims Top Spot in Total Viewers for the 5th Straight Week
On Monday (6/16/25), "Nightline" scored its most-watched telecast (1.112 million) in 5 months.

[06/24/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of June 16: "Tyler Perry's Straw" Leads Top 10 for Third Week, "The Waterfront" Swims to No. 1
Plus: "Ginny & Georgia" Season 3 racked up another 8.1 million views and felt peachy keen at No. 2, while Season 2 landed at No. 8 and Season 1 at No. 10, with an additional 2.7 million views each.

[06/24/25 - 08:42 AM]
Third Most-Watched WNBA Game Ever on ESPN: Indiana Fever vs Las Vegas Aces Averaged 1.7 Million Viewers, Up 52% from Last Year's ESPN Average
Said coverage peaked at 2.2 million viewers.

[06/23/25 - 12:09 PM]
Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Game 7 on ABC and ESPN+ Is Most-Watched NBA Finals Game in Six Years
The seven-game series averaged 10,266,000 viewers and delivered the seven most-watched broadcasts on all of television since the first week of May.

[06/18/25 - 09:01 AM]
Murder Mystery May Drives Acorn TV to the Most Successful Month In Its History
Total hours watched surpassed 20 million for the first time in Acorn TV history, with unique engaged subscribers also achieving an all-time high, up double digits from the streamer's average over the past 12 months.