NBC: Olympics drew 212.7 million viewers

Coverage of the 2012 London Olympics drew 212.7 million viewers, making it the second-most-watched event in American television history, NBC said Monday. The network -- whose tape-delayed evening coverage of the games received heavy criticism from some quarters -- said the viewership numbers placed it only behind the 2008 Beijing Olympics as television's most-watched event. The big viewership was capped by an audience of 31 million for Sunday's closing ceremonies -- a number NBC said was far above its expectations. The network posted an average viewership of 31.5 million for its 15 nights of tape-delayed prime time Olympics broadcasts, which it said was the most for any Summer Olympics held outside of the United States in 36 years. NBC's live weekday coverage, meanwhile, scored an average viewership of 7.1 million over 10 days, making it the most-watched weekday daytime broadcast of any non-U.S. Summer Olympics in TV history.