As of July 28, I have not watched a single minute of the Olympics coverage on TV. It’s not that I am boycotting the games; I just have not yet made a commitment of time to turn on the TV. When I do, admittedly, it’s to view shows on Netflix or Hulu. Apparently, I am not alone.
According to Reuters, NBC's broadcast of the Tokyo Olympic Games opening ceremony had 16.7 million viewers, the smallest U.S. television audience for the event in the past 33 years. Throw in the approximately comparably dismal 300,000 who watched on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app, and the grand total is about 17 million people who watched the ceremony. So how does that compare to past Olympics?
The Tokyo opener TV audience dropped 37% from 2016, when 26.5 million people watched the Rio de Janeiro Games opener, and 59% from 2012, when 40.7 million people watched the London ceremony, according to Reuters. This year was the lowest audience for the opening ceremony since the 1988 Seoul Games, which attracted 22.7 million TV viewers. It was also lower than the 1992 Barcelona Games, when 21.6 million people tuned in. But why?
The data trends that Reuters reported on show that fewer people are watching live TV events overall, including awards shows and sports. This year’s Super Bowl on CBS attracted about 92 million viewers, the lowest since 2006. The April Oscars telecast on ABC averaged 10.4 million, another record low. Audiences for the most recent Emmys and Grammys also hit new lows.
The drop in viewership clearly is not due to a lack of effort. NBCUniversal plans to air 7,000 hours of Olympics coverage across its networks and stream more than 5,500 hours on NBCOlympics.com and its sports app. So the viewing audience is clearly down, but are the Olympics still a cash cow?
According to the same Reuters story, the answer is undeniably yes. An NBCUniversal spokesperson said the company was on track to exceed the $1.2 billion in ads sold for the 2016 Rio Olympics. In June, NBCUniversal Chief Executive Jeff Shell said the Tokyo Games could be the most profitable Olympics in NBC’s history.
Somewhere in the midst of all these viewership trends and profits and digital streams are the world’s most extraordinary athletes competing for gold medals and the titles of being Olympic champions. And for that reason alone, I will be tuning in… as soon as I finish season 3 of “Manifest.”
Have a thoughtful Thursday, and thanks for reading.
