NBC soars with ratings for London Opening Ceremony

23.0 Rating and 40 Share is 7% Higher than Beijing, 28% Higher than Athens and 24% Higher than Sydney

LONDON – NBC's coverage of the 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony from Olympic Stadium in London registered the best overnight rating (Winter or Summer) for a non-U.S. Olympic Opening Ceremony ever. The Opening Ceremony on NBC earned a 23.0 overnight rating and a 40 share (8-Midnight. ET/PT), according to data released today by The Nielsen Company.

Compared to Opening Ceremony overnight ratings for non-U.S. Olympics, the 23.0/40 is seven percent higher than the Opening Ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Olympics (21.5/37), 10 percent higher than the tabloid-fueled Lillehammer Games (21.0/34), and 15 percent higher than the Opening Ceremony for the 2010 Vancouver Games (20.0/33).

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Local 4's Olympic coverage

NBC's coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London kicked off in spectacular style on WDIV Local 4, garnering huge ratings in Detroit  for Friday's Opening Ceremony event.  Delivering an average of 20.9 household ratings and a 36 share, WDIV's broadcast significantly outperformed the highly-regarded 2008 Opening Ceremony in Beijing, China, which garnered an average of 15.9 household ratings and a 30 share.

Local 4's broadcast peaked at an astounding household rating of 25.22 and a 42 share.  In comparison, the combined average of all other major local stations, WJBK/FOX, WXYZ/ABC, WWJ/CBS, totaled only an 8.9 household rating with a 16 share.  In addition on Friday, Local 4's website, www.clickondetroit.com, delivered over 1.4 million pageviews.

As the excitement of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games continues to grow over the next 2 weeks, WDIV Local 4 is the home of the most complete coverage following local athletes on their quest for Gold.  The Local 4 News NightCam, Tim Pamplin, has been re-dubbed as the KnightCam for the London Olympics, providing exclusive stories from his home turf including special features with his Mum. Carmen Harlan, Devin Scillian and Bernie Smilovitz host the nightly Olympic Zone special leading into primetime coverage at 7:30 p.m., with feature reports from Chuck Gaidica, Katrina Hancock and Steve Garagiola.

In light of NBC's live daily daytime coverage of the games, Local 4 News at Noon and Local 4 News at 4pm will move to ClickOnDetroit.com for exclusive webcasts of the day's important news.  Flashpoint with Devin Scillian will also move from it's regular schedule broadcast spot to an exclusive web-only version at ClickOnDetroit.com.   In addition, ClickOnDetroit.com will offer an interactive online version of Jeopardy EXP! allowing Jeopardy fans to stay in the game during the Olympics.

NON-U.S. OPENING CEREMONY OVERNIGHT RATINGS:

OPENING CEREMONY OVERNIGHT RATINGS FOR U.S. GAMES:

TOP 20 METERED MARKETS FOR OPENING CEREMONY:

Jim Bell served as executive producer of NBC's Opening Ceremony coverage; Bucky Gunts, director; Molly Solomon and Joe Gesue producers.

NBCUniversal, presenting its 13th Olympics, the most by any U.S. media company, will make an unprecedented 5,535 hours of the 2012 London Olympics coverage available across NBC, NBC Sports Network, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo, Telemundo, NBCOlympics.com, two specialty channels, and the first-ever 3D platform, an unprecedented level that surpasses the coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics by nearly 2,000 hours.

For the full schedule of NBCUniversal's Olympic coverage, please go to: NBCOlympics.com