2012 Olympics the most watched event ever for NBC

2012 Olympics the most watched event ever for NBC

NBC announced that its coverage of the London Olympics was the most watched entertainment or sporting event ever on American television, the New York Times reports. That achievement reflects the total reach of the 17-day event across all the networks of NBC Universal that carried Olympics programming in the US.

 NBC said 219.4 million viewers — approaching two-thirds of the population of the country — caught at least some segment of the Games on some channel. That number surpasses the figure for the Beijing Olympics, which NBC set at 215 million. 

NBC topped off what had been an above-all-expectations performance with an audience of 31 million for the closing ceremony on Sunday night. That was the largest audience for an Olympics held outside the United States in 36 years. It topped the audience for the Beijing closing by 12 percent. 

Over all, NBC’s prime-time coverage, had a nightly average of 31.1 million viewers, a figure rarely attained by any current television show in the country.