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NBC News president Steve Capus has sent a note to his staff — not so much about the broadcast coverage — but about the online records being set by msnbc digital. “There are a number of ways to measure the audience reaction to our news coverage. Today, I wanted to pass along some amazing statistics for our online coverage of the Japan disasters,” he writes.

The msnbc Digital Network served more than 39.4 million online video streams last Friday — more than double the previous one-day site record of 19 million video streams, set on July 7, 2009 during Michael Jackson’s Memorial service.

BreakingNews.com, which was acquired by msnbc last year, set a new one-day traffic record. In fact the site broke the record by 9amET Friday morning.

“Thank you to everyone from NBC News for your around-the-clock, exceptional work — especially to those who have traveled into dangerous situations,” writes Capus.

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.

NBC News’ MSNBC Digital Network and TODAYshow.com reported strong showings in January in terms of video streaming.

The MSNBC Digital Network tallied 161.7 million total online video streams for the month, fueled by the shootings in Arizona, flooding in Australia, mudslides in Brazil, President Barack Obama‘s State of the Union address, and the political turmoil in Egypt. The January figure topped the previous record from June 2009, which featured coverage of the death of Michael Jackson, by 6 percent.

And the Web site for NBC’s morning stalwart, Today, set a new site record with 63.1 million streams in January, surpassing the old mark of 58 million, which was set in August 2010. Former homeless radio announcer Ted Williams, a woman who had been kidnapped more than 23 years ago, the upcoming royal wedding, the winter weather, and the Arizona shootings were strong factors.

NBC News vice president of specials and digital Mark Lukasiewicz spoke with Beet.TV about the explosion in video-news viewing and what his network is doing to solicit and vet user-generated content and create new forms of story telling, specifically mentioning coverage of the turmoil in Egypt.

The top three cable-news-show Web sites for the week ending Jan. 22 were unchanged from the previous week, according to data from Experian Hitwise, but the abrupt cancellation of the No. 1 show on the list will likely alter the landscape in the weeks to come. The now-erstwhile Countdown with Keith Olbermann from MSNBC topped the list, followed by Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor, and MSNBC Live.

The list of late-night talk shows was unchanged from the week ending Jan. 15: Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with John Stewart and The Colbert Report, and TBS’ Conan. Morning talk shows remained the same, as well: NBC’s Today, ABC’s Good Morning America, and CBS’ The Early Show.

Continuing the theme of the week, the top three broadcast-network Web sites were the same as the prior week: CBS, ABC, and NBC. Fox’s American Idol sang its way to the top of the list of broadcast-network-show sites, with CBS’ NCIS claiming second place, and the No. 3 spot going to ABC’s The Bachelor. There were no fast risers on the broadcast list.

MTV’s Jersey Shore was no grenade, holding on to the top spot on the cable-show list, while the second- and third-place shows flip-flopped their positions from the previous week, with Comedy’s South Park overtaking BET’s The Game. Fast risers were Syfy’s Being Human (to No. 10 from No. 26), MTV’s Skins (15 from 79), USA Network’s Fairly Legal (20 from 52), and History’s Pawn Stars (24 from 26).

When combining broadcast and cable networks, the top two shows were the same as the week ending Jan. 15: Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants and Jersey Shore. South Park slipped into third place. Fast risers were American Idol (5 from 31), Countdown (18 from 35), Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (19 from 33), and Being Human (21 from 68).

Broadcast and Cable Report 012211

Fans of Keith Olbermann lamenting the fact that his last installment of Countdown with Keith Olbermann aired on MSNBC just days before President Barack Obama‘s State of the Union address can still hear what the controversial talk-show host has to say about the speech, via Twitter.

Olbermann announced via Tweet that he would live-Tweet the State of the Union, following that up by announcing the creation of another Twitter feed, FOKNewsChannel, with a Tweet that read, “Greetings! FOKNewsChannel is on the air. Well, on Twitter. Well, it’ll be on as soon as we pay the electric bill #FOK”

Rachel Maddow is really moving up in the world: In addition to her own television show on MSNBC, she now has an iPad app to call her very own.

The free Rachel Maddow HD app allows users to join the “Watch Party” and read real-time Tweets from Maddow, guests, fans, and other Twitter users including the #maddow hashtag, as well as offering one-touch access to The Maddow Blog, and an archive of the past 20 installments of The Rachel Maddow Show.

MSNBC said it will extend the app to other programs.

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Beet.TV founder and executive producer Andy Plesser caught up with MSNBC Digital Network president Charles Tillinghast at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where Tillinghast touted HTML5 video as the most widely utilized platform.

Keith Olbermann‘s self-imposed suspension from Tweeting lasted about as long as his MSNBC-imposed suspension from hosting Countdown with Keith Olbermann, as the talk-show host returned to Twitter with this Tweet Sunday:

And we’re back. Tweeting will resume tomorrow. Good night and… etc. (Avatar dates to 1971 at Yankee Stadium).

At the time of this post, Olbermann had Tweeted twice more, including this promise to go into more details about the controversy that drove him to temporarily quit the microblogging service in the first place:

FYI there will be a tweet (and some retweets) later today about the #mooreandme spectacle

Olbermann reacted to extensive criticism via the microblogging service over hosting filmmaker Michael Moore on Countdown, during which Moore said the controversy over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was overblown, and for retweeting a link from Bianca Jagger that dismissed the charges against Assange and possibly revealed the identities of the women who accused him of sexual misconduct.

Keith Olbermann is suspended again, but this time it’s from Twitter, not MSNBC, and this one was self-imposed.

According to The Huffington Post, Olbermann reacted to extensive criticism via the microblogging service over hosting filmmaker Michael Moore on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann, during which Moore said the controversy over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was overblown, and for retweeting a link from Bianca Jagger that dismissed the charges against Assange and possibly revealed the identities of the women who accused him of sexual misconduct.

Olbermann’s “final” Tweets, for now:

Approximately 3 p.m. ET:: I’ve discovered that I am accused of being a rape apologist in part because I didn’t remove the quotes from the word rape in a retweet

Minutes later: I’ll thus unblock all blocks, wish you all a Merry Christmas and I’ll suspend this account until/if this frenzy is stopped.

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, who spent 21 months in prison following his 2007 conviction for his role in a dog-fighting ring, wants another dog. That revelation — about as likely as Bernie Madoff launching an investment firm — came in a conversation Vick had with NBC News’ Mara Schiavocampo for TheGrio.com, msnbc.com‘s recently launched African American-targeted Web site. Vick told Schiavocampo:

I would love to get another dog in the future. I think it would be a big step for me in the rehabilitation process. I think just to have a pet in my household and to show people that I genuinely care, and my love and my passion for animals; I think it would be outstanding. If I ever have the opportunity again, I will never take it for granted. I miss having a dog right now. I wish I could. My daughters miss having one, and that’s the hardest thing; telling them that we can’t have one because of my actions.