Olympics Ratings

Olympics ratings still strong at start of the second week. More than 25 million viewers tuned in Friday night for the start of NBC's second Olympics weekend, a night highlighted by Michael Phelps' record-tying seventh gold medal in Beijing. Friday night's coverage averaged 25.6 milllion viewers, Nielsen Media Research said Saturday. That's just shy of 2 million more than the 23.7 million who tuned in during the comparable night four years ago in Athens. The average household rating of 15.2 rating/28 share is up 6% from Athens' 14.4/27. [Hollywood Reporter]


More positive press on the Olympics, from the NYT this morning: "Olympics has become the hottest event of the summer, drawing an average audience of about 30 million a night on NBC, far beyond the network's expectations." [New York Times]


Olympics and "winning" ads: The big winners among those advertising during the Olympics so far include KO and GE. KO's Bird's Nest ad was one of the best remembered and most-liked. [Wall Street Journal]