Primetime Ratings: NBC Takes Gold With Olympics

CBS' '3' down from preview

By Tim Baysinger -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/30/2012 11:44:14 AM

The first Sunday of the 2012 London Olympics helped NBC cruise to an easy victory with an overall 11.4 rating/31 share from 7-11 p.m., in the adults 18-49 demo, according to Nielsen overnight numbers. The coverage, which ran until 11:14 p.m., drew 36 million viewers and a national rating of 19.8, both highest ever for a non-U.S. Summer Olympics.

CBS was the only other network to compete against the Games, finishing with a third place 0.9/3. Big Brother was down a tenth to a 1.8 and the official premiere of realty show 3, drew a 0.5, which was down three tenths from last Wednesday's preview.

Fox (1.2/3) and ABC (0.6/2) aired repeats.