Ratings were down, but viewership was up for the eleventh night of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Prime time coverage of the Olympics drew a 15.8/26 final rating and 26.4 million viewers on NBC Monday night, down 4% in ratings but up 2% in viewership from a 16.4/27 and 25.9 million for the comparable night of the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The 15.8 is even with the comparable night of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, marking the second time in as many days that the ratings for this year’s Olympics matched Sydney*.
Among the top twenty U.S. television markets, Denver led the way with a 24.4/41. Detroit finished dead last among the top twenty markets with a 14.1/23.
In New York, the 17.7/29 rating for the Olympics on WNBC thoroughly outpaced the 2.5/4 rating for the Giants’ Monday Night Football game against the Browns, which aired on the New York MyNetworkTV affiliate. In Cleveland, football fared better, as Giants/Browns drew a 10.7/16 opposite the Olympics, which finished with a 16.6/27.
*Originally, NBC reported that Sunday night coverage of the Olympics drew a 15.8 rating. However, that number has been adjusted to a 16.0, which would match the rating for the comparable night in Sydney.
