According to Nielson Media Research, 211 million viewers watched the first 16 days of Olympic coverage on US network NBC – surpassing the total audience of 209 million which tuned in to watch the Atlanta Games in 2004. Nielson also found that the Beijing Olympic’s 16-day average primetime viewership was 27.7 million, 11 per cent ahead of Athens in 2004 (24.9 million). In addition, NBC’s 16.2 average rating, 28 share, is the best through the final Saturday for a Summer Olympics outside the US since Barcelona in 1992 (17.3/33), and seven per cent more than Athens in 2004 (15.2/27).
Approximately 86 per cent of all US television households watched the first 16-days of the Games.
