U.S. TV network NBC's first full week of Beijing Olympics coverage gave it primetime television's largest summer week average in 12 years, while other major broadcasters sank to record low, according to figures released by Nielsen Media Research Tuesday.
NBC averaged 28.7 million viewers for its all-Olympics primetime programming last week, the highest summer weekly average since the week between July 29 to Aug. 4, 1996, when NBC averaged 32.1 million viewers for its coverage of the Olympic Games in Atlanta.
NBC had the most one-sided victory in the weekly primetime ratings race since the introduction of the People Meter system in September 1987, with more than five times the 5.1 million average for runner-up CBS.
ABC was third, averaging 3.4 million viewers, followed by Fox Broadcasting with 3.2 million, the media research firm said. The weekly averages for ABC, CBS and Fox Broadcasting were their lowest since the start of the People Meter system.
NBC's seven Olympics telecasts swept the week's top seven spots, led by Tuesday's coverage, which averaged 34.01 million viewers and included swimmer Michael Phelps winning two gold medals to set the record for most gold medals won in a lifetime, as well as the women's team gymnastics final.
The network averaged 29.8 million viewers for the first 10 days of its primetime Olympics coverage, 14 percent more than the 26.2 million who tuned in through a comparable period of the Athens Games in 2004.
Increasing ratings of Beijing Olympics coverage run contrary to the trend of declining viewership for nearly all forms of programming in recent years due to increased competition from cable television, the Internet, video games and home video, industry observers say.
Last week's 10 most-watched primetime programs in the Unites States were NBC's Tuesday, Saturday, Monday, Thursday, Wednesday, Sunday and Friday Olympics coverage, and reruns of CBS' "Two and a Half Men," "NCIS" and "60 Minutes."
(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2008)