Sports TV
Beijing: Most-watched event of all time
By Toni Fitzgerald
Aug 25, 2008 - 8:20:05 AM

With one day left in the 2008 Olympics, NBC earned its own gold medal Saturday night.

The network’s Beijing Games became the most-watched in history, with 211 million cumulative viewers tuning in over 16 days. That’s the number of people who watched at least six minutes of the Olympics.

Beijing surpasses the old record-holder, the 1996 Atlanta Games, which drew 209 million in 17 days. And, with Sunday’s closing ceremonies yet to be counted, Beijing’s total could rise even higher.

Of course, things are quite different now in the TV universe than they were in 1996. There are more potential TV viewers, and there’s a cable aspect to the Games. Still, the 2008 Games handily surpassed all non-domestic Olympics.

The third-ranked Games, Lillehammer 1994, drew 204 million, while 2004’s Athens Games drew 203 million.

Undoubtedly NBC’s smartest move in this Olympics was to ensure that big draws like the swimming finals and gymnastics competition aired live in primetime. That meant that no one knew the results in advance, as they did for this past week’s taped track and field coverage, giving NBC’s broadcasts more urgency.

That’s an advantage the network will not have in London four years from now, as organizers have already said they are unlikely to acquiesce to U.S. timing preferences. The International Olympic Committee was criticized for agreeing to reschedule the events from their traditional starting times this year.

Swimming finals, which usually take place at night, happened in the early morning in Beijing. Still, dozens of world and Olympic records were smashed, negating some of the backlash over whether swimmers could still perform at their best.

NBC Universal’s cable coverage also set records this year. Through 16 days, the Games have draw 86 million viewers, bettering the cable coverage of any other Olympics, though that dates back only a few years.

Cable tune-in is up 25 percent over the first 16 days of the Athens Games, which averaged 69 million, the old record for cable cumulative viewers.

With one night left in the Games, NBC’s nightly viewership had tailed off a lot compared to the week earlier and even compared to Athens, which it had been pacing well ahead of.

Saturday NBC averaged 16.5 million total viewers, barely half the 31 million who tuned in the previous week to watch Michael Phelps’ record-breaking final race. That was off 8 percent from the same night in 2004, which averaged 18 million.

NBC averaged a 10.2 household rating and 19 share Saturday, down 8 percent from an 11.1/21 in 2004.

For the first 16 days of the Olympics, however, NBC remains well ahead of its 2004 pace. The network has averaged 27.7 million total viewers, 11 percent better than Athens’ 24.9 million. It’s also averaging a 16.2/28 in households, more than a point above what it guaranteed advertisers and up 7 percent from Athens’ 15.2/27.