In the United States , the NBC network delayed its telecast by 12 hours for evening primetime viewing , though Americans in markets bordering Canada could watch it on CBC Television , and others watched clips of it earlier on YouTube and other online video websites . Still , it managed to capture an average of 34.2 million viewers and a total of 69.9 million viewers . Despite these large numbers , NBC 's coverage was not without its critics , some of whom took the network to task for what was seen as a slight cultural insensitivity during the ceremony , as described by author James Schiffman : The march of the athletes showed a clear example of CCTV proudly emphasizing a cultural particularity that NBC strained to contain within the bounds of the acceptable . When the athletes entered the stadium , CCTV pointed out that the banners carrying the names of the countries were written by brush in Chinese and English , reflecting another Chinese cultural particularity . NBC described the arrangement not as an expression of Chinese cultural pride , but in pragmatic terms that covered a sense of dismissiveness . As the athletes began marching into the stadium , Bob Costas explained why Guinea followed Greece : " There is no alphabet here . So if you 're expecting one nation to follow another , the way they generally do at an opening ceremony , think again . " Matt Lauer added " You 're out of luck . So we 're going to have the graphics at the bottom of the screen which will give you an idea , if you look to the right , which countries are approaching the tunnel . " In this way , the NBC commentators ' coverage intoned that China was not doing things the way they were generally done , and as a viewer , you might be " out of luck " if not for the graphics that NBC provided . Nevertheless , the Opening Ceremonies in Beijing became the most watched Olympic Opening Ceremony ever held in a non-U.S. city by an American audience , a record previously held by the Lillehammer Games of 1994 . It was the biggest television event in the U.S. in 2008 since the Super Bowl , and it also surpassed the ratings for the 2008 Academy Awards ceremony and that year 's finale of '' American Idol ''
2008 Academy Awards
80th Academy Awards
2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony