The colourful opening ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympics saw NBC averaging 34.2 million viewers, making it the largest television event since the Super Bow - and it is also the biggest audience for an Olympic opening ceremony that was not held in the US; even eclipsing this year’s Academy Awards and the finale of American Idol.

Athens saw 25.4 million viewers on its opening ceremony; where Sydney had 27.3 million viewers in 2000.

While people could watch portions of the ceremony online - as NBC delayed it by 12 hours after it had happen so it could place it in a Primetime slot; word of mouth could have help spread news about the ceremony.

Source: AP (Via MSNBC)