Each day during the Summer Games, THE DAILY offers our take on the business performances of some of the people, sponsors, broadcasters and other entities around London.
| MEDAL | MEDALIST |
| | GOLD: NBC'S RATINGS -- It might be a little early for full-on congratulations, but NBC certainly has gotten out of the gate quickly with its London viewership. Friday night was the most-watched Summer Games opening ceremony in history -- not to mention the highest-rated Friday night on any network in a decade -- and the network's two-day primetime average of 35.6 million viewers is the best start to a Summer Olympics on record. |
| | SILVER: ADIDAS -- The company rolled the dice on sponsoring its second straight Summer Games, and its marketing bet is paying off. CEO Herbert Hainer said that Nike's 3% lead in the U.K. has shrunk to 1% over the last two years. He is hopeful the next two weeks will push adidas closer to No. 1. |
| | BRONZE: RYAN LOCHTE AND HIS SPONSORS -- Numerous advertisers, including P&G's Gillette brand and AT&T, have featured Lochte splashing away in the lead-up to the London Games, and he did not disappoint them during the opening weekend. As Lochte has said repeatedly this year, "This is my time." His corporate partners have to be smiling as he looks to be heading toward a dominant performance. |
| | TIN: VIP TICKETING -- The story of empty seats that broke Saturday in London could have been written months ago. It does not matter what Olympics it is, there are always empty seats in the VIP section. The IOC and organizing committees need to figure out a better system for making sure the national Olympic committees, international federations and sponsors who get those seats fill them. |
