• by Wayne Friedman , July 29, 2012

For the London Summer Olympics, NBC says it has recorded the best two two-day primetime viewership average in the history of the event.

Some 35.6 million viewers tuned in on the NBC Television Network for the first two days -- with 40.7 million viewers for Opening Ceremony on Friday night, also a record. Typically the best night of the 16-day sporting event comes with the Opening Ceremony.

The previous best results for the opening ceremonies were the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games -- 39.8 million. The big opening ratings for London topped the 2008 Beijing Olympics by six million viewers, which landed at 34.9 million, and had more than 15 million viewers than the 2004 Athens Olympics, which came in at 25.4 million.

The first night of competition -- Saturday night -- at the London Games came in at 28.7 million, also a record. This topped the previous record holder, Atlanta, at 26.3 million.