NBC’s broadcast of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony claimed the top slot in Nielsen’s ranking of primetime telecasts for Friday, August 8, 2008.
The Games’ Opening Ceremony drew 34.9 million viewers — the largest U.S. television audience of any Summer Games Opening Ceremony in more than a decade.  Only the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games (39.8 million viewers) attracted a larger number of U.S. viewers.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
SUM OLYM OPEN CEREM(S)-08/08/2008
NBC
34,891,000

2
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS FRI
UNI
4,319,000

3
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE FRI
UNI
4,091,000

4
GHOST WHISPERER
CBS
3,773,000

5
NUMB3RS 9PM
CBS
3,728,000

6
FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN
CW
3,642,000

7
ABC FRI MOVIE OF THE WK
ABC
2,977,000

8
SWINGTOWN
CBS
2,825,000

9
ROSA DE GUADALUPE FRI
UNI
2,681,000

10
FOX MOVIE-FRIDAY
FOX
2,247,000

Source: The …

Like their counterparts in Europe and North America, Chinese Olympics fans are turning to multimedia sources for coverage of the 2008 Beijing Games, according to a recent Nielsen survey of Internet users in China.
In addition to watching the Games on TV, three of four people in China will keep abreast of Olympics events via streaming online video, one-third will rely on mobile phone text updates, and 14% will view video clips of the Games on their mobile phones, Nielsen’s survey found.
Two in 10 Chinese plan to use online video streaming as their main method of …

Advertisers placed 35 minutes of advertisements during the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony, according to advertising data released Monday by Nielsen.
For the first time since the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002, commercial time was down — from 43 minutes and 55 seconds during 2006 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in Torino and 40 minutes during the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony.
Overall Commercial Minutes
35 minutes (includes 5 min/40 sec of promos)
Top Advertisers: Parent Companies
1. Exxon Mobil Corp.: 150 seconds (2 min/30 sec)
2. McDonald’s Corp.: 120 seconds (2 min)
3. Visa …

During the first two days of the 2008 Olympics (August 8-9), NBCOlympics.com was the most visited, Olympics-related U.S. website, Nielsen Online reported Monday.
Yahoo’s Olympics site drew slightly larger unique audiences in the two days leading up to the Opening Ceremony in Beijing (August 6-7), but its popularity was eclipsed by NBC’s site after the Olympics Opening Ceremony aired on NBC on Friday, August 8.

Rank
(by Aug. 9 UA)
Website
Unique Audience:
Aug. 6
(in 000’s)
Unique Audience:
Aug. 7
(in 000’s)
Unique Audience:
Aug. 8
(in 000’s)
Unique Audience:
Aug. 9
(in 000’s)

1
NBC Olympics
841
1,392
2,664
4,008

2
Yahoo Olympics
1,505
1,430
1,477
3,324

3
AOL Olympics
511
718
395
1,010

4
Beijing2008.cn
39
114
429
780

5
New York Times Olympics
432
369
341
466

6
ESPN Olympics
196
80
273
343

7
Sports Illustrated Olympics
458
239
293
331

8
USA Today Olympics
34
55
280
184

9
Olympics.org
NA*
10
16
153

10
BBC …

Nearly 45% of U.S. and 31% of UK mobile video users will join the mobile audience for the 2008 Olympic Games, Nielsen Mobile reported Thursday. 
Nielsen’s data shows that U.S. and UK consumers are especially likely to view high-profile, short events, such as Track and Field and Gymnastics, on their mobile phones.  
The mobile Internet will also play a critical role in mobile Olympics viewing, with 23% of U.S. and 17% of UK mobile Internet users planning to track the Games through their phone browsers, according to Nielsen.
“Mobile media will change the …

The cost of advertising during the Olympics has increased by 40% in the 10 years since 1996, Nielsen Monitor-Plus reported Thursday. 
During the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, the average cost of a 30-second ad was $250,000.  In contrast, advertisers for the 2006 Torino Winter Games paid an average of $350,000 per 30-second ad.
Commercial time during Olympics Opening ceremonies has also increased in recent years, according to Nielsen. 
During the Opening Ceremony of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002, NBC aired 35 minutes of commercial time.  That alottment jumped to 40 minutes during …

Date
Athens2004.com
(Olympics.com redirects
to Athens2004.com)
NBCOlympics.com

Fri, 8/13/04
196,000*
332,000

Sat, 8/14/04
182,000*
513,000

Sun, 8/15/04
256,000*
537,000

Mon, 8/16/04
219,000*
399,000

Tue, 8/17/04
180,000*
498,000

Wed, 8/18/04
n/a**
613,000

Thu, 8/19/04
185,000*
572,000

Fri, 8/20/04
n/a**
397,000

Sat, 8/21/04
n/a**
454,000

Sun, 8/22/04
228,000*
418,000

Mon, 8/23/04
200,000*
472,000

Tue, 8/24/04
188,000*
424,000

Wed, 8/25/04
139,000*
187,000*

Thu, 8/26/04
154,000*
367,000

Fri, 8/27/04
n/a**
268,000*

Sat, 8/28/04
n/a**
285,000

Sun, 8/29/04
n/a**
301,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 13, 2004 – August 29, 2004)

Data includes U.S. home Web traffic only.

*Indicates website does not meet minimum sample size standards, and therefore projected and average measures for this site may exhibit large changes month-to-month as a result.

**Not reportable for daily data.

Date
Saltlake2002.com
(Olympics.com redirects
to Saltlake2002.com)
NBCOlympics.com

Fri, 2/8/02
143,000
267,000

Sat, 2/9/02
226,000
398,000

Sun, 2/10/02
311,000
241,000

Mon, 2/11/02
167,000
342,000

Tue, 2/12/02
280,000
438,000

Wed, 2/13/02
229,000
376,000

Thu, 2/14/02
173,000
254,000

Fri, 2/15/02
135,000
235,000

Sat, 2/16/02
135,000
354,000

Sun, 2/17/02
213,000
347,000

Mon, 2/18/02
175,000
298,000

Tue, 2/19/02
150,000
324,000

Wed, 2/20/02
168,000
291,000

Thu, 2/21/02
262,000
545,000

Fri, 2/22/02
235,000
314,000

Sat, 2/23/02
203,000
360,000

Sun, 2/24/02
333,000
317,000

Mon, 2/25/02
142,000
113,000*

Source: The Nielsen Company (February 8, 2002 – February 25, 2002)

Data includes U.S. home Web traffic only.

*Indicates website does not meet minimum sample size standards, and therefore projected and average measures for this site may exhibit large changes month-to-month as a result.

NBC’s primetime coverage of the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games drew an average audience of 24.6 million viewers over 17 individual telecasts.

DATE
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

Fri, 8/13/2004
NBC
25,384,000

Sat, 8/14/2004
NBC
19,818,000

Sun, 8/15/2004
NBC
25,798,000

Mon, 8/16/2004
NBC
27,109,000

Tues, 8/17/2004
NBC
30,146,000

Wed, 8/18/2004
NBC
28,396,000

Thurs, 8/19/2004
NBC
31,705,000

Fri, 8/20/2004
NBC
23,749,000

Sat, 8/21/2004
NBC
22,544,000

Sun, 8/22/2004
NBC
25,978,000

Mon, 8/23/2004
NBC
25,943,000

Tues, 8/24/2004
NBC
24,972,000

Wed, 8/25/2004
NBC
24,265,000

Thurs, 8/26/2004
NBC
21,491,000

Fri, 8/27/2004
NBC
20,141,000

Sat, 8/28/2004
NBC
18,029,000

Sun, 8/29/2004
NBC
19,563,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 13, 2004 – August 29, 2004)

NBC’s primetime coverage of the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympic Games drew an average audience of 21.5 million viewers over 17 individual telecasts.

DATE
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

Fri, 9/15/2000
NBC
27,275,000

Sat, 9/16/2000
NBC
21,019,000

Sun, 9/17/2000
NBC
23,883,000

Mon, 9/18/2000
NBC
21,042,000

Tues, 9/19/2000
NBC
24,081,000

Wed, 9/20/2000
NBC
22,315,000

Thurs, 9/21/2000
NBC
22,955,000

Fri, 9/22/2000
NBC
23,153,000

Sat, 9/23/2000
NBC
21,452,000

Sun, 9/24/2000
NBC
25,741,000

Mon, 9/25/2000
NBC
24,420,000

Tues, 9/26/2000
NBC
18,633,000

Wed, 9/27/2000
NBC
20,423,000

Thurs, 9/28/2000
NBC
20,859,000

Fri, 9/29/2000
NBC
15,551,000

Sat, 9/30/2000
NBC
16,296,000

Sun, 10/1/2000
NBC
16,706,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (September 15, 2000 – October 1, 2000)