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Fourth-Place Medal

Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:31 pm EDT

Final word on the Olympics ratings juggernaut

By Pat Imig

The Beijing Olympics on NBC turned out the largest viewing audience in American television history. Safe to say NBC's mission was accomplished.

NBC's Beijing coverage reached 214 million viewers during the event's 16-day run, according to US media reports, eclipsing the 209 million viewers who watched the the Atlanta 1996 Olympics.

The US network broadcast a record 3,600 hours of coverage from Beijing across its various multimedia outlets - including mobile and online - after paying $894m for the rights.

As it turns out, the top five most viewed television events in American history are Olympic events. The Beijing games are trailed by Atlanta '96, Lillehammer '94, Athens 2004, and Seoul '88. For some perspective on this year's viewership, the average primetime audience was 27.7 million people, up 11 percent from 2004.

Combined with the BBC, 250 million people tuned into at least 15 minutes of the Olympics across two countries. Yikes.

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171 Comments

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  1. noway
    1. Posted by noway Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:37 pm EDT

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    im 1st,
    She look nice, I would give her gold for just showing up
    ;o)
  2. Perzlaf
    2. Posted by Perzlaf Tue Aug 26, 2008 5:33 pm EDT

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    this blogs about the biggest tv rating so the picture has to be the 'olympic crush' paraguayan javelin thrower. lol
  3. killjoy
    3. Posted by killjoy Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:19 pm EDT

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    What can you expect in a country where the favorite TV fare is reality shows? NBC knows their audience, and they know if they serve toilet soup with dumplings, hot or cold, the dummies will slurp it right up and clamor for more.
  4. blahU2
    4. Posted by blahU2 Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:30 pm EDT

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    that "nice looking" athlete made her american opposition eat her words and looking like a fool. Ain't the first time and won't be the last.
  5. fetch
    5. Posted by fetch Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:55 pm EDT

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    ah nope, she didn't even come close to medaling. Try again.
  6. killjoy
    6. Posted by killjoy Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:12 pm EDT

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    You can say what you want about that fine Paraguayan athlete, but I bet nobody would have to get paid to dance with her.
  7. Team USA
    7. Posted by Team USA Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:12 am EDT

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    Elva, you sounded like a ho.
  8. Team USA
    8. Posted by Team USA Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:13 am EDT

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    This and the pic above tell you how many horny mofos there are in the US
  9. bobo jones
    9. Posted by bobo jones Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:16 am EDT

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    Who is she?
  10. nickYO
    10. Posted by nickYO Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:23 am EDT

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    "What can you expect in a country where the favorite TV fare is reality shows? NBC knows their audience, and they know if they serve toilet soup with dumplings, hot or cold, the dummies will slurp it right up and clamor for more."
    killjoy you're simply awesome. you hit it right on the nose
  11. nickYO
    11. Posted by nickYO Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:23 am EDT

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    "What can you expect in a country where the favorite TV fare is reality shows? NBC knows their audience, and they know if they serve toilet soup with dumplings, hot or cold, the dummies will slurp it right up and clamor for more."
    killjoy you're simply awesome. you hit it right on the nose
  12. Geewhiz
    12. Posted by Geewhiz Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:29 am EDT

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    Kudos to NBC - wonderful coverage of the Games. Hope they nail the Chinese if they really did fake the age of the female gymnasts - take away the gold medals if in fact they have lied and misled the international community. The Games are about truth in althetics.....isn't that what the Olympics stand for!!
  13. RYOTT
    13. Posted by RYOTT Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:42 am EDT

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    nbc would have had a bigger audience if they had shown the 100m final for men live instead they showed swimming,give thanks for technology
  14. Luda
    14. Posted by Luda Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:53 am EDT

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    I think her knockers got in the way of her winning a metel.
  15. Joseph M
    15. Posted by Joseph M Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:53 am EDT

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    Kudos to NBC on their excellent coverage of the games, they were fantastic. The Beijing games were just awesome, I probably watched the games for 4 hours a day
    Yahoo also did a good job with their articles and event results. Almost all of Yahoos Olympic coverage was great, except for the stories written by Dan Wetzel, his writing quality isnt nearly as high as the rest of your journalism staff.
  16. Seth S
    16. Posted by Seth S Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:07 am EDT

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    carlossssssssssssssss
  17. Girl G
    17. Posted by Girl G Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:08 am EDT

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    haha check out some of the style/model pics of Jeryn Frenco (i think thats her name) on chictini.com
  18. Digger D
    18. Posted by Digger D Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:10 am EDT

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    Carlos: The Paraguayan chick is really hot, but if the three US gymnasts were all together, that would be very nice to see. ; )
  19. RudeDog
    19. Posted by RudeDog Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:20 am EDT

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    I watched what I could of the games but I didn't see this paraguayan.
    I watch the games for the sport men or women.
  20. partho_ghosh
    20. Posted by partho_ghosh Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:31 am EDT

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    um cousin d you are mistaken about rednecks... they tune into football much more often than baseball.
    and I have to disagree with you on kicking baseball out of the olympics, as well as softball. it's a good thing they kept those physically demanding sports like rhytmic gymnastics, badminton, archery, and shooting in there then huh??? i bet you'd much rather watch all of that athletic action.
    the olympics are for real sports, not for activities you can do in summer camp
  21. joyce S
    21. Posted by joyce S Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:35 am EDT

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    "Kudos to NBC - wonderful coverage of the Games. Hope they nail the Chinese if they really did fake the age of the female gymnasts - take away the gold medals if in fact they have lied and misled the international community. The Games are about truth in althetics.....isn't that what the Olympics stand for!! "
    China had a strong swimming team(women) in Atlanta Game, the Chinese athlets couldn't rest at night because someone kept setting off alarm clock. Americans had to win and they had no problem to play dirty.
    CNN interviewed an American gymnastics champion about the "underaged". Of course, the American knew Americans better. She said that the age would not have been an issue if American team had won. Journalists had no problem down to the dirt either and youtube and blogger sites were passed around as facts.
    Why didn't Americans accuse the Japanese girl, Koko Tsurumi(4''7", 75 pounds) underaged?
  22. Kamen E
    22. Posted by Kamen E Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:52 am EDT

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    nbc was great with their coverage and the olympics were amazing stop dissin nbc guys ive never seen such good coverage and ive never seen such great performacnes by athletes best sporting event ever
  23. Kamen E
    23. Posted by Kamen E Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:54 am EDT

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    you guys are stupid they were not highlight this woman i watched it nonstop and barely saw anything of her this is a yahoo picture just cuz yahoo puts her up as the picture doenst mean nbc did anything on her
  24. Deryk W
    24. Posted by Deryk W Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:59 am EDT

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    whats her name? where she from?
  25. DEW
    25. Posted by DEW Wed Aug 27, 2008 2:29 am EDT

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    NBC's coverage, including commercial free viewing during some of the sports, was great. Their coverage was the best I've seen in years. -That's the real reason people watched! Hopefully they'll get the call more often.

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