NBC hits Olympic low

Day 14 of NBC's Beijing Olympics coverage dropped to the lowest rating of the Summer Games, with the network falling 12% from the previous night.

Thursday’s coverage (22.1 million viewers, 7.2 preliminary adults 18 to 49 rating and a 21 share), was down slightly from Athens in prime, yet was up 4% among metered markets (16.5/27). NBC presented gold medal finals in track and field, women’s diving, men’s beach volleyball and BMX racing.

CBS was second with “Big Brother” (6.1 million, 2.1/7), a repeat and “Flashpoint” (7.3 million, 1.9/5). In third, Fox aired pre-season NFL, San Francisco 49ers at Chicago Bears (1.5/4). ABC was fourth with repeats (3.2 million, 1.1/3).