Olympics 2012: BBC Ratings Take Breather, But Stay Ahead of 2008

7:15 AM PDT 8/7/2012 by Georg Szalai

1
6
0
0
0
Email
Print
Comments

After several new highs over the weekend, the U.K. public broadcaster drew a peak audience of 11.9 million on Monday.

Olympics 2012: Morrissey Trashes London Games, British 'Jingoism'

TV Ratings: London Games Head Into Week 2 With 32 Million Viewers

London 2012: NBC Could Still Profit From Olympics, Says Spoilers Boost Ratings

LONDON - After hitting several new highs over the weekend, the BBC's viewership for its London 2012 Summer Olympics coverage declined slightly on Monday.

But it stayed well ahead of the peak audience it drew with its Beijing 2008 coverage.

British track star Dai Greene’s attempt to win in the men’s 400 meter hurdles on Monday drew the highest peak of the day with 11.9 million viewers at 8:45pm, the U.K. broadcaster said.

The second-best rating of the day came for Beth Tweddle's bronze in the uneven bars event with a peak audience of 5.3 million.

Those ratings were no match for Sunday's 100 meter sprint, won by Jamaican star Usain Bolt, which gave the BBC its biggest London 2012 Summer Olympics rating yet when excluding the opening ceremony.

A peak audience of 20 million viewers watched Bolt.

But Monday's ratings handily stayed ahead of the BBC's highest Beijing 2008 live viewership of 6.8 million for the closing ceremony and about 7.5 million for a highlights show that year.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com
Twitter: @georgszalai