NBC Says It’s the 800 lb. Gorilla That Lets Nothing Stand In Its Way

Another day, another NBC press release touting the ratings of the Olympics. I can’t say I blame them. This year, we did not hear anything about rating guarantees as the network was trying to lower expectations in case political problems caused people not to watch. But apparently the nation is watching and in record numbers:

OLYMPICS CONTINUE DOMINANCE FOR NBC

30.4 Million Average Viewers, 5 Million More Than Athens

NBCOlympics.com on MSN Already Surpasses Athens Games in Page Views, Streams and Users

BEIJING –Aug. 13, 2008 – Through four nights, the Beijing Olympics has averaged 30.4 million viewers, five million more than the first four days of the Athens Olympics in 2004.  The 17.1 rating and 30 share is an increase of 16 percent from Athens.  Additionally, NBCOlympics.com has already surpassed the total number of page views, unique users and video streams from the entire Athens Games in 2004.

NBC's Beijing Olympic four-day average viewership is 30.4 million, more than 5 million more than Athens in 2004 (24.7 million).  The national rating average of 17.1/30 is the best primetime rating through the first Monday for a non-U.S. Summer Olympics since Barcelona in 1992 (17.4/33) and is a 16 percent jump from Athens in 2004 (14.7/26).

Through four days NBCU has attracted 157 million total viewers, 15 million more than the first four days for Athens (142 million), 

Monday night's 29.7 million average viewers bested Athens by 2.5 million viewers (27.1) and earned a 17.4 rating/28 share, a five percent jump from Athens in 2004 (16.6/27).

NBC's primetime coverage, which included Michael Phelps collecting his third Beijing gold medal and ninth career Olympic gold medal and saw a total of six medals at the Water Cube yesterday including three gold, peaked with a 20.1/31 and 34.4 million average viewers in the 10:00 p.m. half hour.

MORE PHELPS TONIGHT IN PRIMETIME ON NBC:
Tonight 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. With three gold medals already in Beijing and nine career golds, this could be the night when Phelps breaks the all-time record for career gold medals (nine), which he tied yesterday and is currently shared by five athletes, including USA's Carl Lewis and Mark Spitz. 

NBCOLYMPICS.COM ON MSN SETS RECORDS FOR STREAMS, PAGE VIEWS AND UNIQUE USERS: Through only four days, NBCOlympics.com has already surpassed the totals for the entire Athens Games in page views, video streams and unique users.  Here are the comparable stats through first four days of the Beijing Games compared to entire Athens Games:

VIDEO STREAMS: 13.5 million for Beijing, 2.2 million for ENTIRE Athens Games (+514%) 
UNIQUE USERS: 16.9 million for Beijing, 11.1 million for ENTIRE Athens Games (+52%)
PAGE VIEWS: 291.1 million for Beijing, 229.9 million for ENTIRE Athens Games (+27%)

This means, not only are you watching, but you’re also heading to the internet to find out more about the Games. Zap2It has a more objective story on the ratings, but it pretty much confirms what NBC is saying. Zap2It’s story has NBC garnering a 17.6 rating, while NBC’s release says 17.4. Most likely the lower number is correct. No matter what, the Olympics in Communist China are slaughtering the competition through four nights.