Weren't you one of the posters that said 30 million was probably near impossible? it got just 3 million off that, where between the two were you predicting?

Snap Would expect that to add more than 3D at least. Turned off 3D after about 10 minutes, only about 4 cameras and still problems with ghosting on my TV.

So that is the most watched broadcast in the UK for how long?

So 27.01m then as the peak.


Wish I'd known that. It looked brilliant in 3D but I naively assumed it would be a simulcast of BBC1 but in 3D. Had I realised so much of the action was being missed because of the small number of cameras, I'd have switched to BBC1HD in a shot.

Since 1997 I think, Diana's funeral had higher figures.

It's so odd seeing ratings like that for flagship primetime terrestrial shows, though they did as expected.

Yep, definitely expected. Had they not showed anything decent at 9pm last night, the opening ceremony could have got even more viewers.

Huge crowds for the cycling right now on the Mall and in SW London. Shame BBC1 didn't stick with this a bit longer before shunting it to BBC3.

That said, expect big numbers on BBC1 late afternoon for the climax (around 4pm)

Very low for all channels obviously. Here's a few:
Exclude +1

Million Pound Drop- 272k
Big Brother- 656K (incl +1)
The Bachelor- 242K

What about the world cup final in 1966? According to Wikipedia, a lot of 'special events' got more than 23 million (they only show the average on Wiki I think), but I think that's the case with many TV shows, it's a lot harder to get over 20-30 million nowadays. So the official peak is 27 million? Surely they don't take into account pubs and clubs?

So, after all the buildup and razzmatazz, that's the Olympics over for another four years.

EDIT: Wait, there's more, the tv listings are full of it

The Olympics over for another four years? Yes, but the Olympics in our country? Not for a long time.

Note for Paul:


Dot in wrong place

Channel 5
21:00 - Big Brother: 614k (1.9%)
22:30 - The Bachelor: 242k (0.9%)

Channel 4
21:00 - The Million Pound Drop: 272k (3.1%)

BBC Two
21:00 - Gardeners' World: 1.26m (4.9%)

Interesting that for £27m it got 27m viewers.

A quid each. Bargain!

I know that, but last night's figure is the best since 1997, as Diana had higher.

Not bad. I expect that Sky 3D would add a similar amount, if not more, as it was more widely advertised. But we'll never know!!

That's pretty much my thoughts, can't believe the average, the athletes parading for an hour an a half, is not exactly scintillating TV, thought many would go to bed. Seems the genius start, kept people on. Incredible, and thoroughly deserved. That's without all the people watching elsewhere.

Absolutely incredible for the opening ceremony, but I didn't expect anything less really. Even if no one is interested in the Games themselves, the opening ceremony was a brilliant show in itself that we as a country were holding so most of the viewing audience would have been interested in just seeing some of it.

Still, it's great to see such amazing figures like that and that a record audience was still watching after midnight. A near 90% share is huge! The peak is fantastic, even if it was a little off of my prediction of 30m.

Isn't that Weatherview's highest figure too? It really deserves it, it was brilliant last night.

And the World Cup 1966 final and the Apollo 13 splashdown and a few others.

Is that officially the peak, doesn't it include the ones watching in pubs?

Didn't England v Argentina get 23.78m average? The average is lower is that game from WC 1998.


Diana's funeral got 32.10m combined I think, 19.29m on BBC1.

Is what officially the peak? You've asked the same thing in multiple posts in slightly different ways.

The peak that we have for last night is an overnight peak including BBC One, BBC One HD and BBC HD. It does not include those that watched in public places.

That last line applies for all ratings past and present, including official ratings.

Edit - good spot allthingsuk.

Oh stop it now, it was a great event and got incredible ratings, your down-playing of it just looks sour grapes.

I believe it did according to Wikipedia.

Does the average include all those things too?

Fantastic rating. All sorts of ratings records being smashed last night - from biggest ever midnight rating to lowest ever ratings/primetime shares for the competing terrestrial channels. Taking into account the news channel simulcast and the satellite/red button Olympics channels simulcasts we could yet squeeze a couple of hundred more thousand.

Naturally if we could include all other forms of viewing (outdoor screens, pubs, clubs, internet streams) I'm sure the peak would have been over 30million.