Atlanta has fallen and Beijing is now within NBCUniversal's reach.
Through the first 14 days, 210.5 million viewers have watched some portion of the London Olympics on the networks of NBCUniversal -- NBC, NBC Sports Network, Telemundo, MSNBC, Bravo and CNBC. That total, with three days in the XXX Olympiad, edged past the 209 million who screened the Atlantic Olympics in 1996. The 2012 Olympics now stand as the second-most-watched event in U.S. TV history behind the Beijing Games' 215 million.
NBC's Aug. 9 primetime telecast averaged 22.9 million viewers, the most for a second Thursday of a non-U.S. Summer Olympics since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics' 23.7 million. It also marked the 13th time in 14 nights that the average viewership for London beat Beijing.
Last night's coverage, which featured Ashton Eaton earning the gold medal in the decathlon and Usain Bolt winning the 200-meter sprint for the second consecutive Olympics was 2% above the 22.4 million from Beijing and 6.5% greater that 2004 Athens Olympics' 21.5 million. The taped primetime coverage on from 8 p.m.-11:11 p.m. (ET/PT) averaged a 13.6/23 national rating/share, 1% below the comparable nights from Beijing (13.8/23), and Athens (13.8/24), the last time the quadrennium was played on The Continent.
NBC averaged 31.9 million viewers in primetime and an 18.0/30 over the first 14 days from London to rank as the most-watched and highest-rated non-U.S. Summer Olympics since ABC aired the Montreal Olympics in 1976. The Games-to-date primetime viewership was 11.5% above and 3.3 million more viewers than the 28.6 million watchers over the corresponding span from Beijing and 24% and 6.2 million above Athens' 25.7 million.
The 14-night average household rating of 18.0/30 was 7% higher than Beijing's 16.8/29 and 15% greater than Athens'15.6/27.
