With nothing much else happening on a Friday night, NBC’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony was by far the most watched program on television on Friday. The ceremony garnered a 17.3 rating for the entire ceremony, meaning that it was watched by an average of 32.6 million people. From the press release:
NBC Crushes Everyone With Opening Ceremony
In the half-century of televised Olympics, NBC’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony from Vancouver was the MOST WATCHED EVER for a non-U.S. Winter Olympics with 67.5 million total viewers, 17 million more than Torino in 2006 (50.2 million) and six million more than the tabloid-fueled 1994 Lillehammer Games (61.7 million) which stood for 16 years as the most-watched Opening Ceremony for a non-U.S. Games.
As the Olympics are one of the few premiere events, it makes sense that practically everyone and their brother sat down and watched the ceremony. Unfortunately for most, it means watching it on tape rather than live.
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