The first night of Olympic competition saw a double-digit increase in ratings from 2004.
NBC drew a 16.6/30 overnight rating for prime time coverage of swimming, men’s gymnastics and beach volleyball on Saturday night, up 12% from the first Saturday of the Athens Olympics in 2004. The 16.6 overnight is the highest for the first night of a non-U.S. Summer Olympics since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
In other ratings news, Friday’s Opening Ceremony was viewed by 393 million people in China, and “drew between 63% and 68.8% of China’s total audience, smashing a 51%-58% market share record previously held each year by the Chinese New Year gala broadcast in the spring.”
This morning’s USA/China basketball game could finish as the most watched basketball game ever, mostly on the strength of Chinese viewership — which was expected to rise into the hundreds of millions. The Associated Press reports over a billion viewers were expected to watch the game worldwide, which Team USA won 101-70.
Link to The Hollywood Reporter article found via TV By The Numbers. Link to Associated Press article found via the Fourth Place Medal blog.
