The total Chinese television audience for Olympics broadcasts on CCTV, China’s state broadcaster, was up by 45% on Saturday, August 9, the official start date of the Olympic Games — compared with TV viewing levels from just a few days before the Olympics began, according to Nielsen.
On Sunday, August 10, the men’s weightlifting 56Kg class final, in which Chinese player Long Qingquan won the gold medal, was the most popular TV event among Chinese viewers.  More than 129 million Chinese tuned in for the final, which drew an average audience …

Senators McCain and Obama are each spending sizable sums of money on TV advertising during the Olympics.  But when it comes to placing display advertising online, both candidates have relatively unimpressive records, Mediaweek Senior Editor Mike Shields noted Monday in a column.
“The 2008 race has been lametastic when it comes to online advertising,” Shields wrote, adding: “McCain’s been nearly invisible when it comes to display advertising.”
Senator McCain placed 16 million online display ad impressions in June, while Sen. Obama ran 80 million impressions, Shields noted, citing Nielsen Online data. 
View additional …

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 …

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 …

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)

The opening ceremonies for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta drew the largest U.S. television audience (39.7 million viewers) of any recent Summer Games.
In comparison, the broadcast of the most recent Summer Olympics opening ceremonies — Athens, 2004 — drew 25.3 million U.S. viewers.

DATE / TIME
YEAR / LOCATION
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

25 July / 8pm – 12am
1992 / Barcelona
NBC
21,609,000

19 July / 8pm – 12:45am
1996 / Atlanta
NBC
39,767,000

15 Sept. / 8pm – 11:36pm
2000 / Sydney
NBC
27,275,000

13 Aug. / 8pm – 11:49pm
2004 / Athens
NBC
25,384,000

Source: The Nielsen Company