Alexander Artemev, as seen
on NBCOlympics.com
The multiplatform distribution of Olympics content by NBC is successfully driving viewers to prime time, says NBC Olympics president Gary Zenkel, MediaBuyerPlanner reports.
The results of NBC’s first TAMI numbers lend some weight to his statement. NBCU research president Alan Wurtzel said that on Sunday, some 107.4 million viewers watched Olympics coverage on the broadcast net and across NBCU’s cable channels, including USA, Bravo and MSNBC (via Adweek). With the internet, mobile and VOD added in, the number of exposures reached just over 113 million.
Just two days later, on Tuesday night, an estimated 40 million viewers watched US swimmer Michael Phelps set the all-time record for individual gold medals, and followed by the US women's gymnastics team win the silver medal, with some 82 million people watching throughout the night.
The evening drew a 12.4 rating and 34 share in the adult 18-49 demo — an increase of 12 percent over the similar night in Athens — and was the highest-rated night of the Olympics so far, writes AdAge.
NBCU’s decision to restrict live web footage forced viewers to see live events on NBC, where the bulk of ad dollars was focused, meaning television viewership was not cannibalized. Gripes aside, web coverage was powerful enough to drive record traffic. NBCOlympics.com pulled 291 million page views, and served 13.5 million video streams, over the first four days of the events. NBC’s previous record for online visits, 9.1 million page views and 1.5 million streams, was in June, when Tiger Woods defeated Rocco Mediate in the U.S. Open.
Monday night’s 4×100 freestyle relay, which saw Jason Lezak help the U.S. men’s swim team beat the French, has been NBC’s most-viewed online video so far, with 1.7 million watching online. Some 1.5 million people shared streams with a friend, speaking to the power of the Olympics as a community event, Wurtzel said.
Through Monday, August 11, TV has accounted for just under 94 percent of NBCU’s total Olympics audience.
Wurtzel pointed out that TAMI is not meant to be used as currency, but rather to give advertisers a feel for how NBC’s properties function in tandem with each other. Eventually, TAMI numbers will be offered for all of NBCU’s programming he said, adding, "…I'll be happy when it’s retired and everything is measured by single-source data."
The TAMI metrics are gathered from Nielsen Media Research for television, Omniture for the web, and Rentrak for VOD.
