For the majority of countries in Asia Pacific, official primetime television starts at 6pm and finishes at 11pm*. Taking a closer look at viewing habits around the Asia Pacific region, however, the time slot when the bulk of viewers tune in is between 8pm and 9pm, when close to one third of the Asia Pacific# population (32%) is watching television.

Audiences and advertisers alike are flocking to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT)-inclusive programs.

While the audience size for broadcast primetime remains strong at nearly 200 million viewers, the composition of the programming in the popular 8-11 p.m. time block has changed significantly over the past 10 years.

Traditional primetime is eight to 11 o’clock at night, Monday through Friday, but Nielsen finds that more Americans tune in from 9:15pm to 9:30pm than any other period during primetime.

Product placements on primetime broadcast and cable TV programs fell by almost 15% on primetime programming during the first half of 2008, as compared with the same time period last year, Nielsen reported Monday.
Broadcast television placements grew by almost 12% between January and June of 2008, while placements on cable television declined by 20%.
Changes in program line-ups accounted for the growth of broadcast placements — and the decrease in cable placements. 

DATE 
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2008
(OPENING CEREMONY)
NBC
34,891,000

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2008
NBC
24,082,000

SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 2008
NBC
32,256,000

MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 2008
NBC
30,173,000

TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2008
NBC
34,014,000

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2008
NBC
27,656,000

THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2008
NBC
29,708,000

FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2008
NBC
26,071,000

SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 2008
NBC
31,593,000

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2008
NBC
27,184,000

MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2008
NBC
26,374,000

TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2008
NBC
26,629,000

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2008
NBC
24,755,000

THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2008
NBC
22,438,000

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2008
NBC
17,876,000

SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 2008
NBC
16,756,000

SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2008
(CLOSING CEREMONY)
NBC
27,834,000

AVERAGE OF PRIMETIME OLYMPICS COVERAGE
NBC
27,690,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 8, 2008 – August 24, 2008)

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)

RANK
NETWORK
DURATION (HOURS)
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
CBS
5,280
6,360,000

2
FOX
3,661
5,850,000

3
NBC
5,280
5,540,000

4
ABC
5,280
4,640,000

5
UNI
5,280
3,300,000

6
CW
3,120
1,520,000

7
TEL
5,280
1,070,000

8
MNT
2,880
980,000

9
TF
5,280
510,000

10
ION
5,280
390,000

11
AZA
5,212
110,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (July 3, 2008 – July 30, 2008)