- Post the first comment
- Back to the blog
Despite tape delaying the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony by 12 hours, NBC earned the highest overnight rating ever for a non-American Olympics and the largest audience.
It was also the most viewed telecast of an Olympic opening ceremony of a non-U.S. Games. An audience of 70 million watched, 14 million more than viewership for the Athens opener.
In a statement, Dick Ebersol, the chairman of NBC Sports and Olympics, said, “The Olympic opening ceremony captivated the American public in unprecedented numbers for a non-U.S. Olympics. It was a magical and memorable spectacle and a great way to start the Beijing Olympics.”
The telecast, which was tape delayed and aired from 8 p.m. to 11:19 p.m. ET, produced a 21.5 rating (percentage of potential U.S. households tuned in). That was 19 per cent higher than the overnight for the Athens ceremony in 2004 and 16 per cent above Sydney in 2000.
The audience share, the percentage of households that watched some part of the show, was 37 per cent.
As well, NBCOlympics.com had 70 Million page views on Friday, a 900 per cent increase over Athens.
NBC's rating for the Atlanta opener in 1996, a U.S. Olympics in prime time, was 27.2.
Sydney opening ceremony coverage earned a 18.5 rating; Seoul in 1988, 18.3; Athens, 18.0; and Barcelona in 1992, 16.5.
Start the Conversation, Leave a Comment
This conversation is semi-moderated What is moderation? | How do I report a comment?
You must be logged-in to submit a comment — login now!
Not registered with globeandmail.com? Register now. It is quick and free.
Alert us about this comment
Please let us know if this reader’s comment breaks the editor's rules and is obscene, abusive, threatening, unlawful, harassing, defamatory, profane or racially offensive by selecting the appropriate option to describe the problem.
Do not use this to complain about comments that don’t break the rules, for example those comments that you disagree with or contain spelling errors or multiple postings.
