ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 6, 1996 TAG: 9608060071
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
NBC's coverage of the Atlanta Games produced prime-time ratings that were 26 percent higher than those of the Summer Olympics four years ago in Barcelona.
The network posted a prime-time average rating of 21.6 (percentage of U.S. homes with TV), with a 41 share (sets in use) over 17 nights, compared to 17.1 and 33 for the network's 1992 coverage from Spain.
Those numbers include the Opening and Closing ceremonies. NBC's Sunday night rating of 21.8 was up 54 percent from the Barcelona closing night.
The NBC prime-time ratings for the Atlanta Games ranged between a high of 27.2 on Tuesday, July 23 (team gymnastics, with Kerri Strug's performance) to a low of 15.8 for Saturday's show anchored by the Dream Team winning the gold medal.
The total viewership number for the Atlanta Games will be released by Nielsen today. It will approach 210 million (watching at least a part of the Games). NBC had eclipsed the 206.5 million total for CBS coverage of the Lillehammer Winter Games in 1994 before Sunday night's show.
The Atlanta ratings are the highest in prime time for a Summer Games since ABC's telecasts of the 1984 Los Angeles Games averaged a 23.2 rating and 44 share.
LENGTH: Short : 33 linesby CNB