KEY POINTS:
Only a handful of hardcore Olympic followers saw David bend it like Beckham yesterday, as many viewers gave the closing ceremony a miss.
Figures from AGB Nielsen Media Research showed that, on average, up to 170,300 people were watching from 10.30pm to midnight on Sunday, as the Beijing Olympic Games came to an end.
Up to 177,600 night owls managed to stay awake from midnight to 2am yesterday, to catch David Beckham make a surprise appearance during the closing ceremony, when he literally kicked off Britain's preparations for the 2012 London Games.
In comparison, more people seemed to be excited when the Games started, with an average of 432,600 New Zealanders staying up to catch the show at midnight.
New Zealand's "Super Saturday" on August 16 proved to be the most popular day for viewing, as almost a million people tuned in at 7pm to see Mahe Drysdale's gutsy row, followed by the Evers-Swindells' glory race, before watching George Bridgewater and Nathan Twaddle take bronze.
Up to 908,100 people were up between 9.30pm and 10.30pm on Super Saturday, with a devoted 584,500 on average staying up until midnight and 283,500 staying up until 2am, to watch Valerie Vili's golden achievement.
As with any major event, viewers made their feelings known when technical glitches cut coverage to some viewers during crucial events.
TVNZ also angered armchair critics when a tight schedule meant it did not play all the events with Kiwi athletes in them. But those gripes counted for little when it came to ratings, with huge numbers of viewers tuning in to see our athletes compete.
The only question for the hardcore viewers now is, what will they be watching this week?
