Critics of NBC’s coverage of the London Olympics have voiced sometimes brutal commentary on Twitter using the hashtag #NBCFail, but with one week left in its comprehensive, multiple-platform coverage, NBC’s own take is that its programming is a success.

Ratings are up over what had been an impressive performance in 2008 in Beijing, and a predicted loss of $200 million or more has been turned around to a cautious prediction of a possible small profit.

Mark Lazarus, the chairman of NBC Sports Group, said in a conference call last week, “We think there’s a small chance that we could make a little bit of money.”

The reason: ratings began exceeding Beijing on the first night and continued throughout the first week for NBC’s tape-delayed coverage in prime time. (NBC calls it “archiving” events.) Advertising time that NBC had held out in case it might have to offer free commercials because of ratings shortfalls, known as “make-good” ads, suddenly became available for sale at rates pushed higher by the initial ratings performance.