NBC Affiliates Covered in Record Breaking Olympic Gold - Don Seaman-TVB

Here it is seventeen days after the Opening Ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics and we39ve learned a few things We learned that badminton is at least as intense off the court as it is on court we39ve learned who Jessie J is and we may just have learned that viewers are always going to be hungry for Olympic coverage It39s possible that future Olympic Games may just follow the Super Bowl pattern amp8211 an impossibly massive television event that will have an even bigger audience next timeBut when you look closer this national blanket of Olympic viewing had more interesting patterns at the local levelAverage Primetime Household ratings for the Olympic competition broadcasts were higher in many Central and Mountain markets peaking with a 250 rating in Salt Lake City a former Olympic host city albeit for the Winter Games The top five markets each had a household rating above 210 versus a national average of 165There may have been many factors influencing individual market deliveries from market demographics to local weather to participating hometown athletes to any counterprogramming available particularly from local sports teams For example Los Angeles sent 62 athletes to the Games well more than any other market producing the most medals overall 38 24 of them gold amp8212Primetime ratings averaged an 184 In fact Los Angeles had more athletes than the top 10 markets combined 54 LA also topped the medal count of the top ten markets combined which had 25 total medals 16 of them goldBut what seems to have some measurable impact upon viewing patterns is in the coverage start time Those markets that ran Olympic coverage earlier 6PM1115PM when HUTs where higher vs later 7PM1215AM tended to deliver stronger ratings Four of the top five markets were earlier start time marketsOverall it was the mostwatched event in US TV history as 2194 million Americans watched some part of these Olympic Games Add one more World Record to these OlympicsMoreover this wasn39t just household viewing The Olympics played in every restaurant bar barbershop bodega or waiting room that had a TV NBC literally cast a wide net for viewers and we all happily jumped inIn all there were over 5500 hours of Olympic coverage made available by NBC via their slate of traditional online and even 3D platforms There were over 159 million digital video streams played of these Olympics amp8211 a 110 increase over those for the Beijing Games Add 19 page views for NBCOlympicscom and this was certainly the most wellcovered Olympic Games in historyYet despite what some predicted might be saturation these broadcasts are able to elicit sincere emotional connections from viewers that would seem to be virtually unquenchableIt was easily the most talked about topic on social media during the past two weeks reinforcing the evidence that TV content is the most social topic Bluefin Labs estimated that NBC39s Olympic coverage was mentioned in 36 million social media comments more than the Super Bowl Grammys Oscars Golden Globes and seven World Series games amp8211 combinedThis is proof positive that people not only voraciously watch these Games on television but they also inundate social media with what they39re watching on TV People crave a shared experience and television is the biggest one that there is especially when it39s something we all rally around like the OlympicsAnd if you wonder why Americans care so much about the Summer Olympics the proof might be in the medals In Summer Olympic history no other country has won more medals than the United States39 2409 In fact the US has won nearly as many Gold medals amp8212 976 amp8212 as the 1122 total medals of the next most successful Summer Games nation the Soviet Union The US Olympic Team has certainly given us a lot to cheer for over the years and American audiences just can39t get enoughWe now return you to your regularly scheduled summerDon Seaman joined the TVB in January 2012 as Manager of Marketing Communications where he is responsible for promoting and raising awareness of the TVB and of Local Broadcast Televisionamp8217s value propositions within the traditional and digital media industries Don can be reached at dontvborgRead all Don39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Local MattersCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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NBC Affiliates Covered in Record Breaking Olympic Gold - Don Seaman-TVB

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