Tv Ratings, 2012 Olympics | featured news

NBC's coverage of the London Olympics has blown away the most optimistic projections for audience performance in an increasingly fractured media landscape.

More than 16 million of the 30 million-ish people who were still watching NBC’s London Olympics about 11 p.m. Wednesday stuck around to see the ad-free unveiling of the network’s new Matthew Perry comedy, “Go On.”

NBC's hopes that the London Olympics would boost the struggling "Today" show have been rewarded and then some. The once-dominant morning news show beat ABC's "Good Morning America" by an average of 1.6 million viewers each day last week, the Nielsen ratings company said Monday. That's the most dominant week for "Today" since the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.

Usain Bolt ran his second fastest time ever and set an Olympic record in the 100-meter dash in Sunday’s XXX Summer Games (10.5/27). In fast nationals, last night’s 8 – 11 PM broadcast was down 9% from last Sunday but up 14% from the same second Sunday at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The Nielsen company said 36 million people watched Sunday night's coverage, the biggest audience for the second night of a non-U.S. summer Olympics competition since TV began covering them in 1960. Counting the opening ceremonies on Friday, an average of 35.8 million people have tuned in for the three nights, well above the 30.6 million who watched the first three nights in Beijing in 2008 and considerably more than the 24 million who saw the first three nights of the Athens games of 2004.

Preliminary estimates show that Saturday night's NBC telecast scored the highest ratings for the first evening of an Olympics competition outside of the United States. The Nielsen company said Sunday that its measurement of the nation's largest cities showed ratings for the Olympics telecast were up 8 percent over opening night in Beijing four years ago. A fuller measurement of viewership is expected later on Sunday.

The Olympics opening ceremony was seen in the U.S. by 40.7 million people, making it the most-watched opening ceremony for a summer or winter Olympics.

It will be great for TV ratings, that’s for sure. A group of pole dancing advocates wants the activity, more commonly associated with dim nightclubs, recognized as an Olympic sport. The Pole Fitness Association and other pole dancing advocacy groups are circulating petitions to have vertical dance, which they compare to gymnastics, added to the London 2012 lineup.