NBC confirmed Wednesday that Tuesday’s 2012 Olympics coverage, which included the final individual women’s gymnastics competitions, the semifinal beach volleyball game between the US and China and a number of key track events, delivered the best ratings for a broadcast of its kind in 36 years.
“Last night’s coverage, which featured Aly Raisman taking the gold medal in the floor exercise, and Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells taking silver and bronze, respectively, in the women’s 100m hurdles, drew 30.1 million viewers, the best for the second Tuesday for a non-U.S. Summer Olympics since the Montreal Olympics in 1976,” confirmed NBC’s press release.
While excitement for the Olympics has undoubtedly slowed as the Games enter their final phase, last night’s proves that monstrous interest still remains. Tuesday’s NBC broadcast was up 11% from the comparable night in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 20% for the second Tuesday of the 2004 Athens Games.
The overall primetime viewership average thus far is 32.8 million, which also ranks as the best non-US Olympics viewership average since the 1976 Montreal Games.
