The Olympics have been huge for NBC, with giant ratings and giant profits. Meanwhile, the other networks are looking like Angola taking on the Dream Team.From The Hollywood Reporter:
Little noticed in all the fanfare is that NBC's competitors are setting records of their own, having uniformly endured their worst week ever.Obviously, ABC, CBS and Fox knew what they were getting into, and they're not even trying to counter-program the Olympics, instead just putting on cheap reruns and accepting that they're not going to draw an audience. For two weeks every other year, the Olympics dominate American television.From the ratings week ending Aug. 17, ABC, CBS and Fox each had their lowest-rated and least-watched week in recorded People Meter history (which almost certainly means their all-time lowest; People Meters were rolled out in 1987 and broadcast averages have eroded significantly since then). Fox's 3.2 million average marks the lowest-ever turnout for a major network; ABC's 1.1 rating represents the lowest rated in the adult demo.
