Media Money
- LinkedIn Earnings Bode Well for Hiring and Social Media
- News Corp. Beats Estimates on Studio, Cable Strength
- Disney’s Earnings Beat; CEO Bob Iger Talks Piracy, Parks
- Ahead of Disney’s Earnings: Ads and Cable Revenue at the Magic Kingdom
- Coinstar Beats Earnings Forecast on Redbox Growth
- After The Super Bowl: Who’s Buying?
- Super Bowl XLVI: It's All About the Second Screen
- The Super Bowl's Big Advertising Winners: Super Sunday Ad Tracker
- A Sneak Peek at Facebook's New Headquarters
- Twitter’s CEO Weighs in on Google, Censorship Ahead of Facebook IPO
More Videos
- LinkedIn Earnings Bode Well for Hiring and Social Media
- News Corp. Beats Estimates on Studio, Cable Strength
- Disney’s Earnings Beat; CEO Bob Iger Talks Piracy, Parks
- Ahead of Disney’s Earnings: Ads and Cable Revenue at the Magic Kingdom
- Coinstar Beats Earnings Forecast on Redbox Growth
- After The Super Bowl: Who’s Buying?
- Super Bowl XLVI: It's All About the Second Screen
- The Super Bowl's Big Advertising Winners: Super Sunday Ad Tracker
- A Sneak Peek at Facebook's New Headquarters
- Twitter’s CEO Weighs in on Google, Censorship Ahead of Facebook IPO
RSS FEED
MOST SHARED
- FTSE, DAX, CAC Seen Lower, Greek Deal Delayed
- India's December Industrial Output Growth Slows Sharply
- Bonus Bloodbath as European Banker Backlash Continues
- Greece Deal Fails to Convince, EU Demands More
- Strip Greenspan of His Knighthood: SocGen Strategist
- Zynga, Hasbro Partner to Make Toys, Games
- Jobs You Can Do Forever
- Citigroup Takes $50 Million Loss in Libor Probe
- New York Fashion Week Hits the Runway as Colors Pop
- Mulling Buffett's Stock Advice? Get in With REITs: Fund Managers
- LinkedIn Earnings Bode Well for Hiring and Social Media
- Top Five Mistakes to Avoid in Online Dating
- Victor Cruz ‘Understands’ Gisele's Super Bowl Frustrations
- Tamminen: The United States of India
- Unusual Volume: Taleo Jumps After Oracle's $1.9 Billion Offer
- Warren Buffett: Stocks Will Outperform Gold and Bonds .. and They're Safer 'By Far'
- So Now You Can’t Give Microsoft Away?
- FTSE, DAX, CAC Seen Lower, Greek Deal Delayed
- Citigroup Takes $50 Million Loss in Lending Rate Probe
- Investment Banking Drags Down Barclays Profit
- The Secret Lives of Traders—Seeking the Next Hot Thing
- FBI Investigated Steve Jobs Drug Use
- Strip Greenspan of His Knighthood: SocGen Strategist
- China Imports Slump, Raising Demand Concerns
- Markets Finally Get Greek Deal —So Where's the Rally?
- Warren Buffett: Stocks Will Outperform Gold and Bonds
The Olympics Final Gold Goes to NBC
Text Size 
Correspondent
 |
More than 211 million Americans watched the games -- that's more than 70 percent of the country -- making them the most-watched ever, beating the 209 million viewers who watched the 1996 Atlanta games. (Though it's worth noting there are more TVs out there now.)
And ratings were up, pretty much across the board: 7 percent higher than the 2004 Athens Olympics, while cable ratings were up 30 percent over Athens. This also helped NBC's flagship shows -- Nightly News ratings up 31 percent, Today show up 38 percent -- which I'm sure wil try to hold onto the gains.
It all comes down to the money, and NBC sold over $1 billion in advertising before the games began, selling another 25 million during the games to advertisers thrilled by the frenzy over Michael Phelps and the like, trying to get in on the action.
The real Olympic feat: the unprecedented amount of content posted online and the amount of people who clicked to its site. NBCOlympics.com attracted 50 million unique visitors and 10 million hours of video was watched online. There's no question, this broke all sorts of records for online broadcasting. NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker spoke to CNBC's Erin Burnett Monday, summing up what this Olympic games proves: "Digital content does not cannibalize television."
Zucker says this success will help the network figure out how to lead people to what they want to watch, when they want to want it. And that means not just on TV, but also online and on mobile.
With these strong numbers, when NBC's broadcasting contract for the Olympics expires in 2012, they're going to face some serious competition. Walt Disney's [DIS
Loading...
()
] ESPN and News Corp.'s [NWS
Loading...
()
] Fox both have said once the auction begins next year, they plan to bid for the 2014 Winter Games and the 2016 Summer Games.
The Olympics are clearly a valuable business for General Electric's [GE
Loading...
()
] NBC, but the question is how much it'll be worth paying. And with that over-the-top closing ceremony fresh in my mind, I've got to wonder if anything can live up to this summer's event.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
