NBC's Olympics coverage tops but drops

NBC's coverage of the Beijing Olympics dropped slightly Wednesday from its prior average, though easily bested competitors and won the night.

The Summer Games averaged 27.7 million viewers (9.4 adults 18-49 rating/27 share), down 12% from NBC’s previous five-night average. For the first time, NBC’s average ratings for the night dipped below Athens four years ago, down about 2%.

Still, the network's ratings are double all the other major networks combined and represent NBC's largest margin of victory over competitors on a Wednesday night since at least 1987. 

Also, there's some mitigating factors to consider: The 2004 comparable night in Athens touted headline-making drama, with U.S. gymnast Paul Hamm earning the narrowest gold medal win in Olympic history. But last night's coverage lacked recent ratings-spiking events such as women's gymnastics and Michael Phelps' gold-medal runs.

Through six days, the Summer Olympics continue to track 10% higher than Athens the adult demo (10.2/29 vs. 9.3/27) and up 17% in total viewers (30.8 million vs. 26.4 million).

NBC has also released the first data from its work-in-progress audience measurement system it calls the Total Audience Measurement Index. NBC said that for the first four days of the Games, there has been an average of 96 million impressions across NBC and its other TV networks, online, mobile and VOD. Plus, the whole Olympic affair is boosting the network's late-night lineup.

CBS placed second for the night, airing repeats and "Greatest American Dog" (5.2 million, 1.3/4). ABC was third with repeats (averaging 3.8 million, 1.3/4). Fox was fourth with repeats (averaging 3.5 million, 1.0/3).

UPDATE: NBC's Olympic ratings hold steady Thursday night.

-- Click here for Hollywood Reporter's full coverage of the Beijing Olympics --

Comments

[DAVE]

Wednesday night beach volleyball is not much of a sport -- the ancient greeks didn't play it

[Casey]

I know why the ratings went down--two reasons: first, no one likes watching tape-delayed sporting events. Second, they have shown the same 3 sports for four nights in a row. Also, no offense, but beach volleyball is not a prime-time sport.

[linda in nm]

I have not tuned in to even one minute of the Olympics. I am and have been boycotting all things Chinese for the past two years. The Chinese have provided us with faulty and even deadly products yet Americans still don't look for the country of origin when they purchase things. The Chinese have sent us lead-poisoned toys for our young children to chew on. They have sent us tainted toothpaste and dog food. Fish that they sent last year was heavily tainted with mercury. Other toys have had loose or easily ingested small parts or small magnets. I won't even go to a Chinese restaurant because they most likely purchase ingredients produced in China.

That China was selected to host the Olympics is unbelievable. Their history of human rights is non existent. They have pushed their poor out of their shabby dwellings to accommodate Olympians and visitors. Their weather has some of the worst smog in the world. Let the current Olympics and any attendant lingering health problems of Olympians serve to punish the O.C. and hopefully they will make better choices in the past.

Other than hearing that Coke supports the Olympics, I will not patronize Coke or any other advertisers. I am sick and tired and fed up with China.

[linda in nm]

I have not tuned in to even one minute of the Olympics. I am and have been boycotting all things Chinese for the past two years. The Chinese have provided us with faulty and even deadly products yet Americans still don't look for the country of origin when they purchase things. The Chinese have sent us lead-poisoned toys for our young children to chew on. They have sent us tainted toothpaste and dog food. Fish that they sent last year was heavily tainted with mercury. Other toys have had loose or easily ingested small parts or small magnets. I won't even go to a Chinese restaurant because they most likely purchase ingredients produced in China.

That China was selected to host the Olympics is unbelievable. Their history of human rights is non existent. They have pushed their poor out of their shabby dwellings to accommodate Olympians and visitors. Their weather has some of the worst smog in the world. Let the current Olympics and any attendant lingering health problems of Olympians serve to punish the O.C. and hopefully they will make better choices in the past.

Other than hearing that Coke supports the Olympics, I will not patronize Coke or any other advertisers. I am sick and tired and fed up with China.

[Daniel]

Show something exciting and educational- archery, shooting, basketball, softball, etc. There are 100's of sports NBC can show but they kept showing the same old boring sports.

[Grindle]

Anyone looking at NBC would think that Beach Volley Ball is America's premiere sport. Where is the tennis, basketball and sailboats.

[bugEYES]

The Olympic coverage is terrible. Too much of the panzy "sports" and not enough of the interesting stuff. There should be around the clock coverage of all the games, not just swimming, gymnastics, and volleyball. Where's men's basketball, weightlifting, boxing, you know, the real sports? So far, it's the worst games yet. And oh yeah, how much more of Michael "Golden Boy" Phelps are they going to drown us in?

[KansasGirl]

Sweet!

[Israel]

Why are the ratings so low?

You have 1 network controlling what we watch.
I want to watch the sports that I don't see everyday.

I remember the days when I was young when you couldn't watch anything on T.V. when the Olympics came on. You could turn on the T.V. any time of the day or night and there was always something to watch. Didn't like that sport? Change the channel and there was something else of interest on.

The innocent days of the Olympics are gone when professional athletes came into the picture. Sure we know that other countries don't have professional sports teams and most of thier teams play together for years. To see a pure amateur come on the scene to win the Gold was pure joy.

[Angela]

I'm tired of watching the sports that are subjectively "graded". It is quite obvious that the US is getting the shaft in gymnastics. Sure our men and women (yes, adults unlike the chinese children they're competing against) have made some mistakes, but when they do make a mistake, they are graded harshly, whereas other gymnasts making the same mistakes are still scoring much higher. It's completely rigged against the US and it's disgusting.

I'm incredibly dissappointed with the Beijing Olympics.

[Hal]

You know why? I'm no T.V. Exucutive....but the Olypics are, ahem, BOOOORING. Most of the events are not spectator friendly, or involve children obsessing over meaningless weird "sports" like gymnastics.....it's not a sport, it's a freaky event some people obsessed get really good at.....I'll take the X-games any day....no Olympics on my T.V.

[Bob Simpson]

I have boycotted baseball ever since McGwire cried in front of the congressional commitee. Then it turns out Bonds, Sosa etc were pumped up on EPO and the comissioner did nothing about it.

For the same reason I boycott the Olympics. There is an obvious problem and the IOC is sticking their heads in the sand.

Reading, writing and arithmetic are giving way to lying, cheating and stealing. This is what kids are learning today and it's a shame.

The gold is tarnished.

[RufusVonDufus]

Until the IOC does something about the women's gymnastics team from China breaking the age rule I am done watching anything. I believe more than one of their participants was under the age of 16. What a bunch of deceitful cheaters and liars they are proving themselves to be.

[Not someone that is spoon-fed w/ bias media]

It's us, the profit-seeking Americans, who chose to partner with China because of their cheap labor. We are the ones dictating what to use in the production process. We are the ones that are doing the quality control before the products reach the States. So, why are we blaming the ones that are just following orders?

[Tom]

If you REALLY want to know why they are showing the same things during the Prime Time slots, it is because those sports are the ones scheduled to be LIVE at those times. Softball, basketball and others don't start until 11 or 12 EDT at night. The U.S. men's basketball games have been scheduled for 10:15 pm, 8 pm and 8 pm in China (that translates to an early morning game in the U.S. when coverage is taken over by MSNBC and NBC goes to the Today Show).

[RickKaz]

NBC needs to start coverage at 6 or 7 PM and end it by 11. I don't know many people that will stay up until 1 AM to watch it. Recording the events and watching them the next day is out for me since I know the results from the Internet and radio.

[henry d]

It has been said so many times. The networks have no idea what we want to watch. One basketball game is all I've seen that was interesting. Let's see some track and field, let's see some boxing, and more basketball.

[richard]

What a bunch of whiners. For one thing, the ratings have been very high except for Wednesday night when you didn't have Phelps and most of the events, like beach volleyball, weren't very competitive. For another, its great that China is hosting the Olympics. They have one of the oldest cultures in the world and have done a great job with the Olympics. With regard to women's gymnastics, we finished second for a simple reason - our athletes slipped and fell, the Chinese athletes didn't. And if you don't like what NBC is showing, there's all those NBC affiliates showing all sorts of different Olympic contests.

[Ph0121]

You don't seriously expect us to tune in every night for another exciting episode of beach volleyball do you? NBC made a huge mistake giving that much prominence to such a marginal sport.

[Sissipher]

What I don't understand is why the Olympics are 3hrs delayed on the West Coast when they are live on the East Coast. I don't watch NBC because it is all Tape Delayed, which makes no sense. I end up watching CNBC,MSNBC, or USA which show the stuff live in my timezone.

[Ryan C]

Casey, you're an idiot. You're not supporting China by watching the Olympics. In fact, since you seem so concerned about China's problems, you should be happy they are hosting the Olympics. For the last year, the world's eye has been on China, and most of the coverage has not been positive. All of China's problems have been closely scrutinized and criticized.

As for the actual sporting events, it's been a long time since the US has had a more exciting Olympic story than Michael Phelp's quest for 8 gold medals, or a finish as exciting as the men's 4x100 free relay. With the exception of last night, I haven't been able to get enough of these Games.

[Ron]

I'd liked to watch but living on the west coast I already find out what as happened with that damn delay. So why Watch!
To hell with NBC and their pre-packaged live-delay bullshit!

[Maimai]

Well it's painfully obvious why. People go online and discuss events as they are unfolding. News hits online and radio and everywhere else LONG before anything is even televised on the boob tube. The coverage is also pitifully weak. And the most annoying thing is on TV when they keep the "Live" tag on the screen when it is 12+ hours old. It's crap and they know it. Go online to see anything, but it's only handpicked events, no "full coverage" as promised. NBC paid $900,000,000 for the right to screw over the US. Canada, UK.. they get actual LIVE coverage, regardless of the time.
I have found myself just proxying into the CCTV feeds online for my coverage. They show all of the US and China events when they matter, no horrible commentary, no commercials in the middle of events, and a MUCH better alert system in place when events are coming up.

NBC seems to have signed a deal with Microsoft to use this as an excuse to migrate the country over to Silverlight... which is crap and will be removed as soon as the Olympics are over with.

[Craig]

The Olympics is the one opportunity every four years to see certain sports such as weightlifting, rowing, sailing, archery, real volleyball, real diving, table tennis, badminton, etc. Instead NBC is feeding us a steady diet of trash sports such as beach volleyball and synchronized diving; anything with the word synchronized in the title is not a sport. I'd rather watch bowling. Like many, I DVR the broadcast, skip the first 2 hours, and watch the swimming and gymnastics.

[I'm not staying awake until 12:00 to see if Phelps wins GOLD]

Why watch when I can see it first on the Drudge... It is so upsetting to watch a prepackaged event. Why not show it LIVE as they claim!!

[waz]

Why do NBC announcers hate USA? Especially the commies announcing the gymnastic events. Any sport er uh performance with a judge we will not win but China will. Costas is the worst, he seems belittled and bored by the whole thing.

[John W]

Wow - what a sham, 15 minutes of beach volleyball and diving is more than enough and they should put that on at 3:00 AM. The commercial breaks and commercials with so many Asians to please their communists leaders doesn't surprise me. Everyone has to be P.C. today. I walked away from a 1/2 cold beer to get
some fresh air and away from the tube.

[Johnny Sparks]

linda in nm, get off your fat lazy stupid unionizing ass and start working the reason why most of your manufacturing is being off shored to other countries including China is because Americans are inherently fat and lazy. The Canadians are the better example, we have national healthcare and we work harder than you fat slob Americans.

[rick]

@Grindle

Your an idiot. You dont seem to understand what phelps is tring to accomplish. You should get out of your computer chair, shake off the old cookie crumbs and try to do one pushup, you will probably have a heart attack which would be good for the world.

[john m]

I quit watching when it became obvious that the
primary coverage was not the games, but the bios of the players. Not to mention the unending beach volley ball which is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

[jorge]

OH yeah, like the ancient Greeks had parallel bars and a springing vault.

[Gimli]

I can't stand the Olympics period, especially the American Olympic Team. This is a team that is supposed to represent America and its citizens. Yet every time I turn it on, I see our swimmers sporting not an ounce of fat, winning gold after gold, thirty some year old volleyball women who shame every woman of the same age who has ever stepped into a McDonald's, and gymnasts who are easily six inches below the national height average.
Our team needs more obese, ugly, whinny people who would rather sit on the side of the pool, and complain that they should get a gold medal without doing any work.
For shame.

[wayne p]

i turned on the tv this morning to find more beach volleyball - enough already!!! i turned the set off. with so many interesting sports to show why spend so many hours on this minor sport?

[wayne p]

i turned on the tv this morning to find more beach volleyball - enough already!!! i turned the set off. with so many interesting sports to show why spend so many hours on this minor sport?

[The L1 Ranger!]

Quote:

"Until the IOC does something about the women's gymnastics team from China breaking the age rule I am done watching anything. I believe more than one of their participants was under the age of 16. What a bunch of deceitful cheaters and liars they are proving themselves to be."

Posted by: RufusVonDufus | August 14, 2008 at 02:58 PM

Dittos!!!

L@@K@These Pictures...

http://www.hb.xinhuanet.com/photo/2008-08/13/content_14113859.htm

This Is 'In-Your-Face' Cheating By The Communists Chinese Girls Gymnastics Team!

...& Where Is NBCs', "Investigative Reporting", On This Scandal???

...NoWhere! That's Where!!!

[Linda P]

I have not watched one minute of the Olympics and make every attempt possible to not purchase any items made in China.

[annoyed_nbc_viewer]

The NBC coverage sucks. Note for everyone, go over to the www.cbc.ca (canadian broadcasting co.) website, you get live streaming of all the interesting events, with no adds too!

[C.Cannon]

Why waste time watching this big contrived and phony dog and pony show? It was much better back when the athletes were all amateurs and the whole thing was much more honest and straightforward. They should have a permanent venue in Greece where it all started. Spending 40 or 50 billion dollars to construct a lot of stuff they may never use again is really stupid. Also of all places why China which has a rotten human rights record and which also has a huge problem with smog? I don't for one minute like the totalitarian government they have which has even made all the churches shut down for 90 days. We don't need to tacitly support this kind of crap! What a waste even a lot of the opening ceremony was phonied up! I wouldn't waste the time to watch any of it! It is indeed the tremendous trifle of the year! Guess the Russians like it though as it is providing somewhat of a smokescreen for their nasty business in Georgia!

[C.Cannon]

Why waste time watching this big contrived and phony dog and pony show? It was much better back when the athletes were all amateurs and the whole thing was much more honest and straightforward. They should have a permanent venue in Greece where it all started. Spending 40 or 50 billion dollars to construct a lot of stuff they may never use again is really stupid. Also of all places why China which has a rotten human rights record and which also has a huge problem with smog? I don't for one minute like the totalitarian government they have which has even made all the churches shut down for 90 days. We don't need to tacitly support this kind of crap! What a waste even a lot of the opening ceremony was phonied up! I wouldn't waste the time to watch any of it! It is indeed the tremendous trifle of the year! Guess the Russians like it though as it is providing somewhat of a smokescreen for their nasty business in Georgia!

[Atlanta Media Guy]

These comments must be from jealous ABC and/or CBS employees. First of all, there never was a time in the US where sports were on different channels all the time until this year. (except for the failed red, blue,green pay per view channels in Barcelona) USA & MSNBC have been running live events all week. I also have noticed the LIVE graphics only when it is live. There are times when the event is happening and NBC might be showing a replay or a portion of the event that happened just moments earlier and the graphic has been left in. Mistake yes but it has not been happening all the time.

I agree that NBC should be broadcasting the games live to the West Coast. But the evil local stations would rather run Oprah and the local news. If I was a general manager on the west coast I would run the games live. Not sure if they have a choice or not.

I do know that other countries broadcasts do Olympics all the time like NBC should but the mighty dollar has something else to say about that.

Remember, NBC pays the freight for the entire world. NBC paid 894 million dollars for the rights to show these games. No other countries broadcast networks pay anywhere near that. They are trying to get some return in their investment. Finally, they might be making some money with the games being shown on different networks.

Everyone on this post needs to understand there is a 12 hour time difference to the East and 15 to the West coasts. If people want to watch they need to use their DVR's, VCR's or decide not to sleep and watch USA at 3am. Stop the whining already.

I do agree that the Gymnastics Federation need to strip the medals from the Chinese if they have proof of the ages of the little girls. Rules are rules, just compare the Chinese gymnasts to the their swimmers.

I'm sitting back right now to watch the prime time show. Sorry west coast that's just the way it is.