Baltimore’s Michael Phelps almost single-handedly drove the ratings to near record levels for NBC the first week of the Beijing Olympics.
The network averaged 30.1 million viewers a day through Saturday’s coverage, which included nine telecasts in prime time. It marked a 10.1 percent increase in viewers from the Athens Games in 2004.
The 17.4 rating through Saturday marks the best rating through nine prime-time telecasts since an 18.6 for the Barcelona Games in 1992. NBC’s numbers were boosted as it earned a 17.6 rating and averaged 31.1 million viewers for Saturday night’s coverage, which saw Michael Phelps win his record eighth gold medal of the Beijing Games.
But Phelps is gone now and so are NBC’s ratings as track and field now takes center stage and a drop off of at least 30 percent is a distinct possibility.
The Olympics is the biggest reality show on television. Make no mistake about it: NBC sees the Beijing Games as entertainment. So those looking for Bob Costas and the other members of the NBC broadcast team to do hard-hitting news should not hold their breath.
You won’t see any of the eight networks covering the games to show controversial content.
This is entertainment and not news. Those who want news can watch CNN.
These games are also the most technically advanced in history. David Neal, NBC’s Executive Vice President of the Olympics, told me Sunday morning from Beijing:
“All 34 Olympic sports from all 37 Olympic venues throughout China are 100 percent in HD; it’s really a remarkable evolution of the technology. And again, as producers, it’s a great tool for us. The thing for me that’s so amazing is how quickly the technology has matured. So not only are the handheld and the hard cameras in HD, but even the smallest lipstick camera, the camera that’s embedded in the target at archery that gives you that point of view of the arrow coming directly at the target, even that camera is in HD. So that’s a terrific technology development for us and ultimately for the viewers as well.”
The Beijing Games will be forever remembered for two things: Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympian of all times and the 29th Olympiad was the most technologically advanced games ever presented on television.
As for the news well that is CNN’s business, as for NBC, it is all about the entertainment.
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer.
