Who says TV isn’t the most powerful medium there is – no one hear at Gillespie Group, NBC or any other broadcast station. With the airing of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, NBC 10 had some extremely impressive ratings. The network paid a huge sum of money to have the rights to broadcast the games, and it paid off. Thanks to the world class athletes like Michael Phelps, Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson, viewership reached all time highs, making these athletes a household name.
Tuesday night, August 12th, households across the DMA tuned in to watch Olympic excitement as Michael Phelps swam and the women of the US Gymnastic team competed for the gold. Olympic records weren’t the only things being broken that night…. NBC 10 enjoyed all time monthly rating highs:
8P – 9P: 17.6 household rating / 27.7 share
9P – 10P: 19.9 household rating / 28.9 share
10P – 11P: 26.9 household rating / 39.6 share
11P – 12A: 26.3 household rating / 44.6 share
As the Olympic competition was fierce that fateful Tuesday night, making it the most watched night of the Olympics, other nights held their own, with NBC taking the prime time slots across the board for the duration of the Olympics.
As we look forward to future Olympic Games, NBC 10 has the rights to the 2010 Vancouver winter games and the 2012 London summer games. Will 2010 be as successful? As of today, NBC’s Olympic run will end with the 2012 games. Other stations are going to want to bid for future Olympic Games to capture some of the success for their network and their potential advertisers. However, “you are only as strong as your weakest link”. The training, skill level and potential marketability of future athletes will help to mold the success of future Olympic broadcasts. Move over Superbowl, and make way for the Olympics.