Through two nights of Olympic coverage, NBC is averaging a 16.2/30 prime-time fast national Nielsen rating, up 22 precent from Athens in 2004 (13.3/25).

NBC’s Beijing Games coverage is on pace to be the most-watched Olympics in history, as through two days NBCU’s family of networks has attracted a record 114 million total viewers. That is 4 million more than Atlanta in 1996, which was the most-watched Olympics in history, and nearly 20 million more than Athens (95 million).

NBC's top executives told SBJ/SBD on Sunday that the huge early numbers are a harbinger of even gaudier numbers for the remainder of the Olympics. NBC Universal President of Research Alan Wurtzel said, "The buzz so far has been extraordinary. We're developing momentum to take us through the next two weeks. The first couple of days are critical."

Wurtzel was especially happy with the 18-34 demo, which had been tuning out previous Olympics. So far this year, numbers from that group are up 22 percent compared to Athens and 14 percent compared to the 2000 Sydney Games.

"With all the fragmentation and choices people have, to deliver more people like we're doing is incredible," Wurtzel said.

NBC Universal Sports & Olympics VP/Strategic Marketing, Promotion & Communications Mike McCarley said that advertisers are taking notice of NBC's ratings numbers. The network held back some inventory for the Games, he said, and is preparing to field calls, particularly from movie studios and back-to-school advertisers.

"Our guys are starting to field a lot of calls," McCarley said. "It's a great story to tell."

Online numbers also have been big for NBC, as NBCOlympics.com posted 132 million page views for the first two days, including more than 4 million unique page views for each of the first two days. By comparison, the best day during the 2006 Turin Games saw less than 2 million page views. NBC's mobile application saw 2.7 million page views in the past two days.

"All three platforms are just on fire," Wurtzel said. "Everyone is very, very gratified."

NBC surveys have shown that 90 percent of viewers only watched the Olympics on TV; 10 percent watched both; and only 0.2 percent solely watched on the Internet.

"The notion that the Internet is cannibalizing TV is an urban myth," Wurtzel said. "They are basically complementing each other"

Mixed Reviews On Ceremony Logistics

Corporate hospitality operations executives offered mixed reviews on the organizational performance of BOCOG for Friday night’s opening ceremony.

Walt Dobrowolski, SportsMark’s director of Olympic operations who is on the ground for the sports marketing firm with 10 corporate clients here, generally gave organizers good marks.

“There was nothing that I noticed much different” from other Olympics, he said. “There wasn’t anything I didn’t expect.”

Still, other corporate hospitality operations experts, including Keith Bruce, president of SportsMark, noted that gates that were supposed to be open were closed, causing confusion and scrambling to get guests into the Bird’s Nest.

The heat also was an issue as some guests had to wait as long as two hours to get through security lines. Other ticket holders — although apparently not all — were required to take ID/security photos before they entered the stadium.

After people stood in line for their photo session, they then returned to the back of another line for the so-called “mag-and-bag,” or metal detectors, said Pete Moore of Carlson Marketing.

Telescopic signs that sponsors use to attract their guests after an event — those long, branded placards that staff carry — were banned because some were metal and not allowed in the stadium’s perimeter. Some staff of the corporate hospitality firms were barred from key locations even though they’d been told their credentials would allow them there.

Who do you call in such cases?

“That’s the problem,” Moore said. “There really isn’t anything you can do.”

Saturday and Sunday, after the huge opening, things went more smoothly.
Transit, which is usually a headache in the early days of a Games, seems to be functioning well.

Media transit, often the butt of jokes and the object of frustration from the spoiled media corps, has also been on time.

Crime And Olympic Guests

The murder of Todd Bachman, father-in-law of U.S. men’s volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon, has hospitality leaders reminding their guests to just use some caution as they tour Beijing. No one is panicked.

Carlson’s Moore said his firm placed a newsletter under the hotel-room doors of guests: “We told them it appeared to be a random act. We just wanted them to be aware of what happened.”

SportsMark’s Bruce said his firm, with 2,000 guests in this first wave of travelers, communicated “in a number of ways” to people.

“We’re taking our cue from the USOC,” he said, noting USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel’s assertion, provided by law enforcement authorities, that the attack was a “random act.” Bachman, his wife Barbara,and their Chinese tour guide weren’t wearing USOC credential badges, nor anything that identified them as Americans.

By the way, the Bachman family business — known regionally in Minnesota as the dominant brand in gardening and flowers — has set up a Web site with updates on Mrs. Bachman’s condition (www.visionsweb.com/ToddBachman/index.asp).

Keeping A Watch On Crowds And Empty Seats

Random spot checks suggest that the idea that these Games are sold out might be true. Fencing Saturday night was filled. Swimming was filled. Basketball had a late-arriving crowd, but that was because the U.S.-China game was the second half of a doubleheader that started following Australia vs. Croatia.

By the time the Americans and Chinese tipped off, the new 18,000-seat creatively named Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium was almost full; but as in Olympics past, some “Olympic Family” seats — primo seats — remained empty. Journalists who arrived late stood to watch the matchup.

Funny Endorsement Moment On The Sand

During beach volleyball action over the weekend, U.S. men’s player Phil Dalhausser apparently found himself in an odd endorsement situation. As the U.S. team came back out on the court after a break, Dalhausser was wearing only the top half of his Oakley sunglasses, with no lenses inside.

NBC’s play-by-play announcer said that it appeared the lenses had fallen out, so why would you wear just part of the glasses instead of taking them off completely?

Karch Kiraly, who was doing analysis, pointed out, “Could be a sponsor issue.”

Olympics Looking More And More American

During breaks in the Australia-Croatia men’s game Sunday, scantily clad women, many with blonde hair, danced provocatively in cave-women-type getups. The halftime show was straight out of an NBA arena: guys jumping off of trampolines and jamming acrobatically. And T-shirts were shot into the stands.