With one day to spare, the Beijing Olympics have become the most-watched event in American television history.
NBC Universal reports its total audience for these Games hit 211 million through Saturday, pushing it past Atlanta 1996 as the all-time leader for Olympic viewership south of the border. The aggregate number 12 years ago was 209 million for 17 days. Beijing's total has yet to include today's programming, which included the men's basketball final and the closing ceremony.
Perhaps even more impressive: 86% of U.S. households tuned in to at least some part of Beijing 2008.
Audiences got a huge boost in the opening week of the Games, when American swimmer Michael Phelps made his historic charge to an unprecedented eight gold medals in a single Olympics. NBC Universal also spread its coverage over nine networks, with its cable outlets combining for a record 86 million viewers.
While Winter Olympics ratings tend to be stronger in Canada, the opposite is true for a neighbouring country that is traditionally a Summer Games powerhouse. Four of the five most-watched Olympics ever in the U.S. were summer affairs, with Lillehammer 1994 (carried by CBS) the lone exception. We don't need to get into why.
Showing posts with label Lillehammer 1994. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lillehammer 1994. Show all posts
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
So What Else Is New?
Unless you've been living under a rock, you know this is CBC's Olympics swan song. Until 2014 at the earliest, that is.
A CTV Globemedia/Rogers Consortium (primarily CTV, TSN and Sportsnet) moves onto centre stage for the next two Games — the highly anticipated Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, followed by the next Summer Olympics in London in 2012.
No surprise, really, seeing the CBC bashers of the world (and they are legion) chortling with glee about the impending turn of events. The Hockey Night in Canada theme song fiasco, the curling mess of a few years back, the end of its hold on the Grey Cup after more than half a century ... yep, those bitter folks have had plenty of ammo in recent years (and, they might also remind you, how come we're not hearing Brian Williams or Chris Cuthbert from Beijing?).
At times, it's been like shooting fish in a barrel, it's been so easy.
In this case, at least, I find that whole tone humorous. You see, it wasn't all that many years ago the Canadians from coast-to-coast were cheering loudly when CBC got its hands back on the Olympic rings for the 1996 Atlanta Games. This was after CTV efforts in Barcelona 1992 and Lillehammer 1994 that were received rather coolly, to put it kindly, by the viewers and the critics back at home.
So what's the lesson here?
That's easy. Canadians like to bitch about what they see on television, no matter what the game is or who's showing it to them. You'd almost think it's a national sport. Some of them actually know what they're talking about, too (everyone's an armchair expert, right?).
In other words, be forewarned TSN and Sportsnet. While we trust the next two Games will be in good hands, someone out there figures to disagree. And they won't be shy about telling you so.
Hey, it's the Canadian way.
A CTV Globemedia/Rogers Consortium (primarily CTV, TSN and Sportsnet) moves onto centre stage for the next two Games — the highly anticipated Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, followed by the next Summer Olympics in London in 2012.
No surprise, really, seeing the CBC bashers of the world (and they are legion) chortling with glee about the impending turn of events. The Hockey Night in Canada theme song fiasco, the curling mess of a few years back, the end of its hold on the Grey Cup after more than half a century ... yep, those bitter folks have had plenty of ammo in recent years (and, they might also remind you, how come we're not hearing Brian Williams or Chris Cuthbert from Beijing?).
At times, it's been like shooting fish in a barrel, it's been so easy.
In this case, at least, I find that whole tone humorous. You see, it wasn't all that many years ago the Canadians from coast-to-coast were cheering loudly when CBC got its hands back on the Olympic rings for the 1996 Atlanta Games. This was after CTV efforts in Barcelona 1992 and Lillehammer 1994 that were received rather coolly, to put it kindly, by the viewers and the critics back at home.
So what's the lesson here?
That's easy. Canadians like to bitch about what they see on television, no matter what the game is or who's showing it to them. You'd almost think it's a national sport. Some of them actually know what they're talking about, too (everyone's an armchair expert, right?).
In other words, be forewarned TSN and Sportsnet. While we trust the next two Games will be in good hands, someone out there figures to disagree. And they won't be shy about telling you so.
Hey, it's the Canadian way.
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