NBC is averaging a 17.4/30 national rating (30.1 million viewers) through Saturday’s coverage and nine prime-time telecasts, up 10.1 percent from a 15.8/28 (26.2 million viewers) for the same period in Athens.

The 17.4 rating through Saturday marks the best rating through nine prime-time telecasts for a non-U.S. Summer Olympics since a 18.6/35 for the 1992 Barcelona Games. NBC’s numbers were boosted as it earned a 17.6/32 rating and averaged 31.1 million viewers for Saturday night's coverage, which saw Michael Phelps win his record eighth gold medal of the Beijing Games.

The 17.6 was up 29.4 percent over a 13.6/26 for the comparable night of the 2004 Athens Games, and marked the most-viewed Saturday night program on the network since a February 1990 episode of "Empty Nest." The audience peaked at nearly 40 million viewers in the 11 p.m. ET half-hour, when the U.S. team won the men's 400-meter medley relay, giving Phelps the record eighth medal.

On Friday night, NBC earned a 15.2/28 and averaged 25.6 million viewers. The network’s Thursday night coverage drew a 17.9/31 and averaged 29.7 million viewers. Meanwhile, the TAMi for Friday night’s coverage totaled 95 million across the four Olympic platforms, and Saturday night went up to 107.9 million.

NBC Universal Sports & Olympics Vice President of Strategic Marketing and Communications Mike McCarley said the network has "generated a profit at every Olympics since Atlanta, and all have been between $50 (million) to $75(million). We expect a profit from Beijing, but it is still too early to tell where it will end up."