Telemundo Hauls In 12 Million Olympics Viewers

NBC-owned Hispanic broadcast network Telemundo, over the first 10 days of Summer Olympics coverage from Beijing, has drawn a total of 12 million unique persons, already surpassing the audience for the entire run of coverage for the 2004 Summer Olympic games on Telemundo, by 12 percent.

This is the second Olympic broadcast for Telemundo, and the network is offering 380 hours of exclusive coverage through its standard daily broadcast schedule. It is also offering round-the-clock broadband coverage via its special Web site, OlimpiadasTelemundo.com.

The TV coverage includes Games' events narrated in Spanish, as well as a series of special programs focusing on participating Latin American countries, Hispanic athletes and stories surrounding the Games.

Telemundo's prime-time coverage through August 17 has averaged 299,000 households and 451,000 persons per night. The network has also averaged 274,000 persons 18-49 in prime time during the Olympics.

Those numbers are up more than 20 percent over its usual non-Olympics audience.

"We're extremely proud of being part of this historic event and to be able to celebrate with our community the success of our athletes and their commitment to excellence," said Don Browne, president of Telemundo. "The response from our viewers clearly confirms that our sports division is delivering the most relevant and engaging Spanish-language Olympics coverage to U.S. Hispanics."