Media Scribbler

There are a ton of Olympic headlines coming out today related to NBC’s coverage, from controversy over lip-synching and Bela Karoli pronouncements proclaiming that China’s lying about their gymnasts’ ages to the fact that not only did 1.7 million people go online to watch Michael Phelps and his U.S. swimming teammates’ icredible relay win Sunday, but 1.5 million shared it, which is an incredible number for viral video.

But the best headline will make a difference long after the Olympics end — NBC unveiled a new tracking metric with their Sunday stats, which claim that 113 million viewers watched their Olympic coverage Sunday. The Total Audience Measurement Index combines into one number the audiences on broadcast and cable television, the Internet, mobile devices and video-on-demand.

TV ratings are the easiest for the average ratings geek to grasp, but the Internet is measured by uniques via Omniture (the best tracking platform out there), mobile uniques via streams or downloads, and VOD views from digital boxes.

Using this metric to show you rock both off- and online could get really interesting once NBC starts using it across other types of programs — both entertainment and sports — this fall. Also, since NBC is also claiming 85 percent more retention from online ads than on the broadcast, that could also really affect where the ad dollars are spent.

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