Ratings: 2012 Olympics Still Outpacing Beijing Games; 'NY Med' Hits Low
While swimming phenomenon Michael Phelps made history to receive the most medals of any Olympic athlete in the games' existence Tuesday night, the 2012 Olympics saw a minor decline versus the 2008 Beijing games but are still beating the 2008 games overall, while ABC News' "NY Med" plummeted to a low, according to preliminary numbers.
NBC took an easy win with its Olympics coverage, which filled its primetime slate, scoring first place in the advertiser-cherished 18-49 demographic and total viewers with an average 12.2 rating/33 share and 37.5 million.
Also read: NBC May Break Even on Summer Olympics Coverage
That marks a 2 percent decline in the demo from the equivalent night of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but so far the 2012 games are still ahead of the 2008 games by 6 percent in the demo and 13 percent in total viewers.
They're also blowing away the 2010 winter games in Vancouver by 122 percent in the demo.
Univision, facing an almost complete lack of original programming from ABC, CBS and Fox, drew second place in the demo and third in total viewers with a 1.4/4 and 3.5 million.
CBS, which ran repeats throughout the night, drew third place in the demo and second in total viewers with an average 1.0/3 and 5.4 million. Fox, which also ran repeats, came in fourth place in the demo and fifth in total viewers with a 0.9/3 and 2.3 million.
ABC drew fifth place in ratings and fourth in total viewers with a 0.6/2 and 2.6 million. Its sole original program of the night, "ABC News: N.Y. Med" at 10 p.m., plunged 45 percent in the demo in the face of Olympics competition, dropping to a low of 0.6/1 and taking 2.8 million total viewers.
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