Thanks to Michael Phelps and gymnastics, NBC had its highest rated night of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Prime time coverage on Tuesday night drew a 19.9/34 rating and 34 million viewers on NBC, up 9% and 13% from an 18.3/30 and 30.1 million viewers for the comparable night of the 2004 Athens Games. The 19.9 rating also marks a 28% increase from a 15.5/26 for the fourth night of the 2000 Sydney Games.
The 19.9 rating is the best for any individual Summer Olympics telecast since the closing ceremonies of the 1996 Atlanta Games (21.8/40).
Through Tuesday, NBC is averaging a 17.8/31 rating for the first five nights of the Beijing Olympics, up 16% from a 15.4/27 from the first five nights of the Athens Olympics, and up 22% from a 14.6/25 for the first five nights of the Sydney Olympics.
