I’m back after being out for most of the day. I have two releases, one from NBC and the other from CTV in regards to the ratings for Friday night’s Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. Were they good? What do you think?
NBC says the Opening Ceremony was the most viewed Winter Olympics OC for a non-US based Olympics. Having it live in the Eastern and Central time zones definitely helped.
MOST-WATCHED OPENING CEREMONY EVER FOR NON-U.S. WINTER OLYMPICS67.5 Million Viewers Watched Opening Ceremony on NBC; 17 Million More than Turin and Nearly 6 Million More Than Tabloid-Fueled Lillehammer Games in ‘94
32.6 Million Average Audience is 47% Higher than Turin
VANCOUVER -February 13, 2010 - In the half-century of televised Olympics, NBC's coverage of the Opening Ceremony from Vancouver was the MOST WATCHED EVER for a non-U.S. Winter Olympics with 67.5 million total viewers, 17 million more than Turin in 2006 (50.2 million) and six million more than the tabloid-fueled 1994 Lillehammer Games (61.7 million) which stood for 16 years as the most-watched Opening Ceremony for a non-U.S. Games.
The Opening Ceremony on NBC averaged 32.6 million viewers, more than 10 million more and 47 percent higher than Turin (22.2 million) and earned a 17.3/30 national rating for an increase of 35 percent over Turin in 2006 (12.8/21).
The 32.6 million average viewers is the most for a non-U.S. Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in 16 years - just below the 33.8 million for the tabloid-fueled Lillehammer Games in 1994. The 17.3/30 national household rating is also the best for a non-U.S. Winter Games since Lillehammer.
The Washington Post said that “the Winter Games got off to a splendiferous start with the Opening Ceremony - with images that rivaled that of ‘Avatar.’ -- All of it was rendered splendid by NBC’s HD cameras and enhanced by discreet commentary from the anchors.”
NON-U.S. WINTER GAMES OPENING CEREMONY TOTAL AUDIENCE:
1. VANCOUVER - 2010 - 67.5 Million
2. *Lillehammer - 1994 - 62.0 million
3. Nagano - 1998 - 52.4 million
4. Turin - 2006 - 50.2 million
5. Albertville - 1992 - 46.7 million
*Fueled by the tabloid coverage of the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding scandal.
NBCOLYMPICS.COM UP 469% FROM TURIN: NBC’s Olympics website, NBCOlympics.com, registered 4.8 million unique users for Day 1 of the Vancouver Games, 469 percent higher than the Day 1 of the last Winter Games in Turin 2006 (861k)
- The site also delivered 1.9 million video streams – 836% more than Turin’s first day (201K).
NBC OLYMPICS MOBILE APP IS NO. 1 ON ITUNES: NBC Olympics Mobile app, the No. 1 free app in the iTunes store, generated more two million page views yesterday.
METERED MARKET RATINGS BY TIME ZONE:
Mountain Time Zone 21.2/36
Pacific Time Zone 19.8/36
Eastern Time Zone 18.9/31
Central Time Zone 18.6/30
TOP 20 METERED MARKETS FOR OPENING CEREMONY:
1. Seattle, 25.9/47
2. Milwaukee, 25.8/43
3. Denver, 25.4/44
4. St. Louis, 23.7/40
5. West Palm Beach, 23.3/35
6. Cleveland, 23.1/38
7. Salt Lake City, 22.3/39
8. Columbus, 21.8/37
9. Ft. Myers, 21.4/ 34
10. Detroit, 21.1/34
11. Portland, 21.1/39
12. Providence, 21.0/36
T13. Richmond, 20.9/33
T13. Baltimore, 20.9/32
15. Sacramento, 20.6/38
16. San Francisco, 20.3/39
T17. Boston, 20.2/36
T17. Indianapolis, 20.2/34
T17. Nashville, 20.2/30
T20. Chicago, 20.1/33
T20. Buffalo, 20.1/33
NBC Universal, broadcasting its record 12th Olympics the most Olympics broadcast by any network, will present more than 835 hours of Vancouver Olympic Winter Games coverage - representing the most total hours ever for a Winter Olympics, more than the last two Winter Olympics combined, and the most live hours ever for a Winter Games. The Vancouver Games are the first Winter Olympics to be presented entirely in high definition.
Dick Ebersol served as executive producer of NBC's Opening Ceremony coverage; David Neal, producer; and Bucky Gunts, director.
And in Canada, 2 out of every 3 people watched the Opening Ceremony which was live across the Great White North.
Vancouver 2010 Opening Ceremony is Most-Watched Television Event in Canadian History with 13.3 Million Viewers; 26 Million Canadians or 78% of Population Embrace Day 1 of the Games
- — Two in three Cana
dians watch 3.5 hour ceremony —Live coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony Friday night by Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium has made history as the most-watched television event ever in Canadian history. On average, 13.3 million Canadians were watching every single minute of the 3.5 hour ceremony. The figure eclipses the previous record-holder, the Gold Medal hockey game at Salt Lake City 2002 (10.3 million), by 29%. Airing live across 11 television networks in 11 languages, an astonishing 23 million viewers, or two in every three Canadians (69%), tuned in to some part of the ceremony.
A total of 26 million Canadians, representing 78% of the population, experienced the 2010 Winter Games on the platforms of Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium yesterday, according to the Consortium’s CUME (Canadian Unique Multimedia Engagement) index.
Previous Opening Ceremony Audiences:
Calgary 1988: 4.24 million (CTV & TVA)*
Salt Lake City 2002: 3.99 million (CBC & SRC)*
Beijing 2008: 1.64 million (CBC & SRC)**
Turin 2006: 1.18 million (CBC & SRC)**
“The Canadian Olympic team will break records at these Games,” said Ivan Fecan, President and Chief Executive Officer, CTVglobemedia and Chief Executive Officer, CTV Inc. “But, the first record was broken last night.”
Detailed Day 1 audience breakdown to follow.
About CUME:
Canadian Unique Multimedia Engagement (CUME) index is the cumulative reach of all Canadians that engage with the major media platforms offered by Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium. CUME is a calibrated summary of the most-trusted audience measurement systems for television, online, radio, and print. For detailed information about CUME visit CTVMedia.ca/Olympics and CTVMedia.ca/olympiques.
Sources
Television: BBM Canada
*Nielsen Media Research
**BBM Nielsen Media Research
One more post regarding last night’s Opening Ceremony coming up.
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