Olympics: Late Night Coverage Up 34% Through First Week; Thursday’s Daytime Action Up Again

Posted by | 08/04/2012 at 1:59 pm

Across all timeslots, the 2012 London Olympics has been a success for NBC.

Late night coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics averaged 6.9 million viewers on NBC through Thursday, up 34% from Beijing in 2008 (5.1M), and up 32% from Athens in 2004 (5.2M).

Thursday’s late night window earned a 5.0 final rating and 7.3 million viewers, up 35% and 49%, respectively, from 2008 (3.7, 4.9M).

The 5.0 rating is the highest of the Olympics so far for the late night window.

Also Thursday, daytime coverage from 10 AM-5 PM ET drew a 5.2 and 7.5 million viewers — up 33% in ratings and 41% in viewership from 2008 (10 AM-1 PM ET: 3.9, 5.313M), and up 49% and 60%, respectively, from Athens in 2004 (12:30-4 PM ET: 3.5, 4.7M).

So far, every single daytime and late night Olympic telecast that can be compared to 2008 has had an increase in ratings and viewership.

Ratings/Viewership For Non-Primetime Olympic Coverage on NBC
* Weekday daytime coverage in 2008 aired from 10 AM to 1 PM ET.

Date Telecast Window (all times ET) Events Net 2012 2008
Rating Vwrs Rating Vwrs
Sat., 7/28/12 5:00 AM-9:46 AM Swimming, Men’s Cycling NBC
3.6
5.1M
n/a
n/a
9:46 AM-12:00 PM Men’s Cycling, Swimming NBC
7.9
12.3M
5.3
7.9M
12:00 PM-6:00 PM Women’s Basketball, Rowing, Women’s Volleyball, Beach Volleyball NBC
9.3
14.9M
7.8
12.4M
12:30 AM-1:18 AM Weightlifting, Gymnastics NBC
4.9
7.4M
3.8
5.6M
Sun., 7/29/12 7:00 AM-9:51 AM Women’s Cycling NBC
4.3
6.0M
n/a
n/a
9:51 AM-12:00 PM Women’s Cycling, Swimming NBC
8.2
12.7M
7.7
11.7M
12:00 PM-6:00 PM Men’s Volleyball, Swimming, Men’s Water Polo, Rowing, Beach Volleyball NBC
9.9
16.0M
8.9
14.1M
12:35 AM-1:22 AM Gymnastics, Canoeing NBC
4.6
6.9M
3.5
4.9M
Mon., 7/30/12 10:00 AM-12:00 PM Swimming, Rowing, Canoeing NBC
5.1
7.0M
4.8
6.5M
12:00 PM-5:10 PM Women’s Volleyball, Rowing, Swimming, Women’s Water Polo, Beach Volleyball NBC
6.2
9.0M
12:35 AM-1:23 AM Swimming, Canoeing NBC
4.6
6.4M
3.9
5.1M
Tue., 7/31/12 10:00 AM-5:30 PM Canoeing, Swimming, Rowing, Men’s Volleyball, Men’s Water Polo, Beach Volleyball NBC
5.4
7.7M
4.3
5.9M
12:45 AM-1:28 AM Swimming, Beach Volleyball NBC
4.6
6.7M
4.0
5.5M
Wed., 8/2/12 10:00 AM-5:00 PM Cycling, Swimming, Beach Volleyball, Women’s Water Polo, Canoeing, Women’s Volleyball, Rowing NBC
5.2
7.3M
4.4
6.0M
12:40 AM-1:25 AM Rowing, Cycling NBC
4.4
6.3M
2.9
4.0M
Thu., 8/3/12 10:00 AM-5:00 PM Swimming, Canoeing, Beach Volleyball, Cycling, Men’s Water Polo, Rowing NBC
5.2
7.5M
3.9
5.3M
12:35 AM-1:18 AM Canoeing, Table Tennis NBC
5.0
7.3M
3.7
4.9M

UPDATED 8/5/12: Corrected headline.

(Friday’s numbers and first week average from NBC Universal Media Village)

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