206 Million Watch Beijing Games on NBC Universal Through 13 Days, Surpassing Lillehammer

Through just 13 days, NBC Universal’s Beijing Olympic coverage has surpassed the 16-day viewership total for the entire Lillehammer Winter Olympics, making it the second most viewed television event in U.S. history.

The 206 million viewers are 13 million more than the first 13 days for Athens (193 million) and 5 million more than the Atlanta Games (201 million), which was the most-viewed television event in U.S. history. NBCU’s coverage has reached more than 85 percent of all U.S. television homes.

MOST VIEWED EVENTS IN U.S. TV HISTORY:

1. 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, 209 million (17 days)

2. *2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, 206 million (*through 13 days)

3. 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics, 204 million (16 days)

4 . 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, 203 million (17 days)

5. 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, 194 million (17 days)

The Beijing Olympic 13-day average primetime viewership is 29.0 million, 12 percent ahead of Athens in 2004 (26.0 million). NBC’s average of a 16.9 rating, 29 share in households is the best through the second Wednesday for a Summer Olympics outside the U.S. since Barcelona in 1992 (17.9/34) and is a seven percent jump from Athens in 2004 (15.8/27).

In primetime, NBC’s Beijing Games has won all 79-rated half-hours against its entire network competition.

Wednesday night garnered 67 million total viewers in primetime and 24.8 million average viewers, a two percent gain from the comparable night in Athens (24.3 million). The night earned a 15.2 rating/26 share, just one percent off from Athens’ comparable night (15.3/26).

NBCOlympics.com has surpassed one billion page views and has achieved record success across all metrics.