The 2008 Olympic Games is now officially the most watched television event in history.

“It’s been a cultural phenomenon,” said Alan Wurrtzel, president, research and media development of NBC Universal. “I can’t think of another instance where the country so universally gets behind an event and shares it like they have with Beijing, not with the widespread fragmentation we see today.”

Media buyers get a big surprise… NBC’s national prime-time ratings were through the roof. They exceeded the guaranteed ratings of 14.5 media experts were expecting by 10 percent. And it hasn’t stopped there. Even after the Games began on August 8, NBC was able to secure an additional $30 million in ad revenue, according to NBC Olympic President Gary Zenkel.

Internet as part of strategy. In addition to the television coverage, NBC included the Internet as part of its overall marketing strategy. The plan was to stream 2,200 hours of live footage on NBCOlymics.com. NBC Reports state the site received 46.2 million hits from unique users and represented eight million hours of online video viewing.

From a business standpoint, the NBC network and NBCOlympics.com achieved Olympic success.