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Sure the Olympics are a glitzy pageant of high-stakes athletic perfection beamed from half-way around the globe. But TV viewers can get bored of just about anything, and some are clearly feeling Summer Games fatigue. Thursday night, NBC dipped to its lowest viewership since the start of the Games, with “only” 22.4 million viewers tuning in, according to the preliminary ratings.

Over on CBS, some viewers opted to watch housemates compete in a trivia competition and vote each other out on Big Brother (6.2 million, 2.1) rather than see Olympians going for the gold.

The Olympics dip is to be expected now that high-interest sports like swimming, gymnastics and women’s beach volleyball have largely been replaced by track and field and diving. Still, the London Olympics have averaged 12 percent higher overall than the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. NBC hopes for a viewership spike during the Closing Ceremonies on Sunday evening, where it will preview its new sitcom Animal Practice.

NBC Sports Group Chairman Mark Lazarus and NBC Research Group President Alan Wurtzel defended the network’s Summer Olympics coverage strategy during a conference call with reporters Thursday morning. Here’s the duo taking on several burning questions, including the network’s decision to tape-delay certain events.

– How have the Olympics performed so far? Actually quite great. Ratings are up 10 percent from the last Summer Games in Beijing. The coverage package might show a profit for NBC instead of another $200+ million loss like in Vancouver in 2010. Lazarus says NBC’s affiliates, advertisers, and partners are all happy (plus some viewers too). “We couldn’t be more pleased by the results on all of our platforms,” Lazarus said. “We are over-delivering on every day part.”

– Why isn’t more coverage live? READ FULL STORY »

You know that NBC loses millions upon millions covering the Olympics, right?

Maybe not this year.

NBC Sports Group Chairman Mark Lazarus told reporters Thursday morning that the network’s coverage might actually show a profit. Previously, the company estimated it would lose around $200 million.

“With ratings and sales increases, we’ve made significant incremental money and we will now be around break even — no qualifiers,” Lazarus said. “It’s a small chance that we can make a little bit of money. We’ll know over the next couple weeks.”

In 2010, NBC lost more than $200 million on the Winter Olympics. NBC’s Summer Olympics coverage has posted significant ratings gains since the Opening Ceremony aired last week. Though many of us have criticisms of NBC’s tape-delay strategy (and we’ll have a post with Lazarus addressing that in a few minutes), the company avoiding a huge hit is good news: We all want to continue having massive comprehensive Olympics coverage on a ton of platforms, regardless of the broadcast network.

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