• The Hollywood Reporter, Monday, August 25, 2008 10:45 AM

When the Beijing Olympics ended Sunday, it had drawn nearly all of China's 1.3 billion people to their televisions, making it "likely to be the most widely watched Games in Olympic history," according to organizers.

Nielsen data shows that 96% of Chinese families watched at least some portion of the Olympics on China Central Television, the country's primary state-run broadcaster. CCTV paid about $17 million for exclusive broadcast rights in China and generated an estimated $394 million in Olympic advertising revenue, according to GroupM.

In comparison, NBC, paid $894 million for the exclusive U.S. broadcast rights, from which it garnered more than $1 billion in ad revenue.

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