BBC says closing ceremony draws 26.3M viewers

LONDON (AP) The BBC said Monday that its live coverage of the Olympic closing ceremony was watched by 26.3 million people in the U.K., or more than 80 percent of the country's audience share.

The broadcaster said in a statement that coverage on its flagship terrestrial channel, BBC1, peaked at 26 million on Sunday night, easily beating the previous U.K. audience record for an Olympic closing ceremony - the 11 million viewers who watched the ceremony in Barcelona in 1992.

The BBC's high-definition and 3D coverage added about 300,000 viewers to Sunday's total. Those figures were slightly down on the opening ceremony which kicked off the games on July 27. The Danny Boyle-directed opening extravaganza drew 26.9 million viewers at its height.

The BBC's four main domestic channels are distinct from its international rolling news service, BBC World News, or services such as BBC America, which brings popular British shows such as "Top Gear" and "Dr. Who" to U.S. audiences.

In the United States, the Olympics were broadcast by NBC.