Phelps gold with NBC
- Published by David Knox
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NBC’s ploy to shift the swimming finals to the mornings paid off big time on Saturday night when Michael Phelp’s crowning 8th Gold Medal snared the network its best Saturday night ratings since 1990.
Almost 40m US viewers tuned in to the men’s 4x100m medley relay, an increase of around 10m on its nightly average. Swimming is traditionally not the huge drawcard in the US as it in Australia. Phelps may well have altered that.
The full Saturday evening telecast averaged 31.1 million viewers, but hit 39.9 million viewers when the relay aired.
NBC said the last time it got an audience that size on a Saturday night was Feb. 24, 1990, when 31.4 million viewers watched Empty Nest.
NBC says the Beijing Games are on track to become the most-watched Olympics ever, but whether the interest created by Phelps can be sustained remains to be seen.
Source: Hollywood Reporter