Primetime Ratings: Olympics Coverage Continues to Outpace Beijing

'Big Brother,' 'Final Witness' both down

By Lindsay Rubino -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/2/2012 12:12:56 PM

NBC's Summer Olympics coverage of the men's all-around champion in gymnastics and the swimming and diving finals put the network at the top on Wednesday night with an overall 9.7 rating/28 share in adults 18-49 from 8-11 p.m. ET, according to Nielsen overnight numbers. That is up 3% over the same night in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. NBC's coverage extended until 11:26 p.m. ET, earning a 17.9/30 national rating/share, up 7% over than the first Wednesday of the Beijing Olympics. The night also drew an average 30.8 million viewers, down 20% from Tuesday's coverage but up by 3.1 million from the Beijing Olympics.

In second place for the night was CBS, with an overall 1.3/4. Big Brother was down a tenth from its last Wednesday airing to a 1.9, a season low.

ABC aired a new Final Witness at 10 p.m., which earned a 0.8, down 20% from last week. The network earned a third-place 0.8/2.

Fox (0.7/2) and the CW (0.3/1) aired all repeats.