Olympic Primetime Demos Show Males Up; Young Females Down
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Phelps Helps NBC Show
Gains In Male Viewership |
NBC’s primetime ratings increase for its coverage of the Beijing Olympics was fueled by higher ratings across the board among male viewers and gains among older female demographics. Since '96, ratings for the primetime portion of the Summer Olympics have been significantly higher among women than men, in part because of attention paid to women’s gymnastics, which traditionally carries a higher percentage of female viewers. This year though, with U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps taking the main stage, ratings came back toward a closer male/female split. Among the younger female demographics (age 12-17 and 18-34), Beijing primetime ratings actually decreased from the '04 Athens Games, while ratings for women ages 25-54 and 35-64 showed gains. For males, ratings increased for both young and older demos. Overall, NBC’s average primetime rating increased to 16.2 from a 15.0 in '04. For the longer period of three weeks before the Olympics through the Games’ completion, viewership among all adults ages 18-49 grew 12% from the comparable '04 period. That increase is a slightly higher move than the bump seen in '04 compared with '00 because of the increased interest in the Beijing Games among men. In addition, the time difference between Beijing and the U.S. enabled NBC to show about 70% of the major primetime events live. Among all adults 18-49, the women’s gymnastics all-around was the highest-rated sport. Further, Tuesday, August 12, produced the youngest median age (46) of any night of primetime coverage. NBC’s coverage that night included the men’s gymnastics all-around and the women’s gymnastics team final. The median age of Summer Olympics viewers in primetime has been gradually increasing over the past several Games, edging up again this year to age 48. For the first time since '92, though, the percentage of viewers under 21 did not decline compared to the previous Summer Olympics, and the percentage of viewers over 65 did not increase (Magna Global).
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WHO WAS WATCHING THE SUMMER OLYMPICS IN PRIMETIME ON NBC?
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| GAMES |
MEDIAN AGE |
AVG. RAT.
|
W12-17 |
W18-34
|
W25-54
|
W35-64
|
M12-17 |
M18-34
|
M25-54
|
M35-64
|
|
Beijing '08
|
48
|
16.2
|
4.5
|
7.7
|
10.9
|
12.5
|
5.0
|
7.4
|
10.3
|
11.7
|
|
Athens '04
|
47
|
15.0
|
5.1
|
7.9
|
10.4
|
11.7
|
4.6
|
6.1
|
9.2
|
10.5
|
|
Sydney '00
|
45
|
13.8
|
5.0
|
7.0
|
9.9
|
10.7
|
5.0
|
5.7
|
9.1
|
10.1
|
|
Atlanta '96
|
42
|
21.6
|
9.0
|
13.1
|
15.3
|
16.1
|
9.7
|
11.4
|
14.0
|
15.4
|
|
Barcelona '92
|
39
|
17.1
|
8.2
|
10.1
|
12.2
|
13.1
|
10.7
|
10.3
|
12.6
|
13.3
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NOTES: Only Beijing '08 ratings are Live+Same-Day. Roughly 16 hours of NBC’s primetime coverage was not measured by Nielsen. These include significant portions of men’s gymnastics, as well as some men’s volleyball, women and men’s track preliminary races, the last fifth of the men’s beach volleyball Gold Medal match, most of its men’s decathlon coverage, the men’s 4x100 relay final, much of the men’s platform diving semifinal, and the first hour or more of the men’s and women’s marathons.
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