It feels like 2022 is the year for dumb television decision-making for some of the largest sporting events in the world. ESPN has the rights to televise the Australian Open live, and they barely did any coverage during the fortnight, hoping that people would buy ESPN+ and just watch it there. That was an obvious precursor for the 2022 Olympics, where NBC Universal holds exclusive rights. While NBC and their family of channels did air stuff live, I’ve heard some really terrible stories about people who tried to watch live coverage or even taped coverage on Peacock (the subscription streamer). Plus, the Beijing Olympics just didn’t make that much news, and when the games did make news, it was for terrible stories like a 15-year-old doper in figure skating. So who was tuning in? Very few of us.
The 2022 Winter Olympics ended as the least watched ever for NBCUniversal — but there are still a few bright spots, particularly on the streaming side of the equation, for the company amid the smaller overall figures.
The topline figure is that the Olympics averaged 11.4 million viewers across all of NBCU’s platforms in primetime. That’s down 42 percent from the 19.8 million average for the 2018 winter games in Pyeongchang, South Korea — in keeping with the trend both from the first few days of the games (and, in fact, closing the gap with four years ago a little bit) and the general decline of broadcast network ratings in the past four years.
NBCU’s coverage from Beijing is also down about 26 percent from the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which averaged 15.5 million primetime viewers in the company’s “Total Audience Delivery” metric (a combination of Nielsen ratings for TV and Adobe Analytics figures for digital platforms). That too is on par with the declines from last summer from the opening week of the winter games. (Each of the last three Olympics, for what it’s worth, took place in eastern Asia, presenting similar time zone differences between the host cities and the United States.)
On the upside, the streaming audience for Beijing was either the largest or second largest for any Olympics to date, depending on the measurement. Streaming on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, the NBC Sports app had an average primetime viewership of 516,000 viewers, up 8 percent from the summer and an all-time high for any Olympics in the streaming era. Streaming made up about 4.5 percent of the total primetime audience for the games.
The Olympics are sort of in the same boat as awards shows: desperately seeking younger demographics but incapable of making the necessary changes to actually revamp their programming to make it viewer-friendly. NBC probably won’t even try to change because I bet they did get thousands of new Peacock subscribers because of the Olympics, so hey, they’re making more money and that’s what it’s all about. Of course, the Winter Olympics always have a lower viewership too – the Summer Olympics are generally more viewer-friendly, and people will literally watch hours of Olympic tennis, volleyball, beach volleyball, soccer, etc.
While the Kamila Valieva situation was a sh-tshow from start to finish, NBC totally milked the drama for ratings – they featured multiple interviews with Johnny Weir and Tara Lapinski discussing the drama, and NBC replayed the final long-program skates and scores footage several times last week. That was the footage of everyone learning that Valieva didn’t medal.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Trying to navigate the peacock app was terrible. I don’t understand why they can’t even make it as useful as youtube. The way you have to speed through to find what you want to watch is annoying because you were scrolling blind trying to guess where to stop. I don’t want to watch 2 hours of ice cleaning or people just hanging out. The entire design for that app needs some serious redesign for usability.
And They didn’t even show everyone!!!! I hate that NBC ignores any smaller countries or anyone not “cool’ enough.
And the day after it ended they took down ALL the figure skating and the olympics tab. I was halfway through watching the pairs short program and it disappeared. Not all of us have time to do 2 days straight of a sport and spread it out.
Totally agree, I gave up on Peacock after the summer olympics.
LOLLLLLLLL at the ICE Cleaning comment….I am actually a curler and a competitive one and I LOVED how much Curling I could find and replay on my own schedule from the Olympics…
It is helpful that I actually have met and know some of the Olympic curlers so I was pretty invested in watching as many games as possible!
Hahaha I was thinking about the Zamboni, but I did enjoy watching the curling matches 😀
The Olympics felt very depressing this year, which I think viewers wanted to avoid. Between being held in oppressive China and Russia finding a way to compete despite their cheating, plus minimal spectators, nothing about it seemed fun or enjoyable. And the news of athletes that struggled under the testing/quarantine chaos, it never felt like the Olympic GAMES. It always had a dark cloud over it.
Yeah the fact that Russia always gets away with cheating is just frustrating. Everyone else (especially if you’re not white) gets thrown out, but Russia gets a slightly disapproving frown.
I agree. Allowing Russia to compete (even under “ROC”) made the games seem pointless to me. Add in the fact that it was held in China, and I just couldn’t support it.
Right!?!? Held in freaking China! That whole Russian debacle!
I was pumped for the Summer Olympics. I was excited to see the Black Joy and Excellence on display. I barely watched it because the Peacock app is horrid. It took so much joy away from the experience. I kind of kept forgetting about the Winter Olympics. I passively thought about watching but couldn’t muster up the care. The best part is someone in the comments last week mentioned the docuseries Meddling on Peacock. I’m excited about checking it out.
Meddling is good but very depressing. So much of the Olympics is corrupted
I love a good docuseries but when I got settled in I immediately noticed the tone was going to be depressing. I paused it and now it’s one of those things that I have to be in the mood to watch but I’m ready for it. The commenter above mentioned the pa over this year’s Olympics was depressing and I definitely get that vibe as well.
After much frustration, I watched figure skating by recording it on USA Network (NBC coverage) and on CBUT (Canadian TV) and replaying it later. Everything happened while i was sleeping, but this way I could see it in the morning. When I tried to watch it on NBC primetime, it kept getting interrupted by commercials and other events. Curling, curling, curling. I know that certain people like it, but it is like watching people mop floors. Slowly. So slowly.
I did like all the new aerial ski and snowboard sports. But we need new U.S. stars to create interest. We rely so heavily on experience instead of who’s in the best shape the month of the Olympics.
I wish the U.S. had brought young figure skating sensation Ilia Malinin instead of Jason Brown (who lost to Illia at Nationals and finished low in the Olympics, as was predictable). Ilia is a bright new star. Allysa Liu was radiant and joyous, but she didn’t skate in the team competition. Love Karen Chen but she always falls. So does Mariah Bell, also a charmer.
NBC tried to sell Eileen Gu in aerials but she was competing for China.
I managed to see the final chaotic part of the women’s free skate in real time, having gotten up at 6 on the West Coast (U.S.) unable to sleep. I could not figure out what the hell had happened. Young girls sobbing everywhere, including a Japanese skater. I thought maybe somebody had broken a leg or died. Every time it looked like it was going to calm down, somebody else started up. Mainly Sasha Trusova. It was incredible. Depressing. Awful.
I needed an easy to find schedule for ice skating. Hulu’s guide showed a 3 hour block in the evening. Then I was so mad about the Russian girl getting away with doping I stopped watching altogether.
Same here. I was excited to begin with, then had difficulty figuring out from the multiple postings of confusing schedules where to watch the skating the first few nights, and halfway through the evening it would change to being on some other network and I’d miss 15 or 20 minutes of it trying to figure out where to go next, tried to watch men’s competition but it was on so late at night I just couldn’t stay awake to watch the top contenders. Then the doping scandal started and they said Valieva could still skate and I was just disgusted and DONE. No desire to watch the women’s competition at all.
NBC’s Olympics website was *terrible.* So much extra garbage, and my browser hated it. I used the very simple, straightforward CBC dot ca website to keep track of when events were held, then I was able to look at the three main tv channels to figure out when they’d show them. When in doubt, look at Canada’s websites. (I’m not Canadian.)
Stop having the Olympics in countries with authoritarian regimes with horrendous human rights violations. And stop allowing Russia to have state-sponsored doping. Then, people might actually watch.
The problem is that the games, as they are today, are so ridiculously expensive to host that only obscenely rich countries or those oppressive places like China and Russia can afford to host them. Particularly, the summer games. And for these games, the only other bid was Kazakstan, and that would have been an even bigger shit show of corrupton.
Leanne hits the nail straight on the head
I’m just one person, but I absolutely refused to watch one moment of coverage on these games, and purposely clicked on very few stories about in online (like this might be my 5th across all sites). I’ve got no desire to add clicks or views to something in a symbiotic relationship with oppressive regimes.
The doping nonsense and abusive coaching systems and the ridiculousness hanging over from the Tokyo weirdness, and the obvious graft just enhanced that decision. The IOC and cohorts needs a serious overhaul.
The IOC has much to answer for. They rake in huge amounts of money from corporations like Comcast (billions I’ve heard from them alone) for the rights to broadcast and where does the money go? They need to be audited and reformed.
I’m all for placing the Olympics – Summer – permanently in Greece, and the Winter Olympics in a rotating European nation form now on. It may simplify the costs. But again, the IOC received huge amounts of money…where does it go?
It’s way too underdiscussed that this happened in a country actively committing genocide. I like figure skating too, but I couldn’t watch because it’s like if the Olympics had been held in Germany during Hitler times. Yet no one discussed the plight of the Uyghurs.
The Olympics WERE held in Germany during the Hitler years. That’s where Jesse Owens made such a mark as a Black man from the US outperforming white athletes.
But that was almost 100 years ago, and there’s no need to make the same mistake multiple times. I’ve been slowly turned off by the Olympics over the years, but this year was particularly appalling. I do not want to tune into a celebration of international unity held in a country that is committing genocide against its own ethnic and religious minority groups.
Absolutely ! I can’t think of China without thinking of the genocide of Uyghurs. 😥 Human rights issues was the main reason I wasn’t interested in following the Beijing Olympics. I’m in my 50s but I don’t think younger generations are interested in supporting that kind of “entertainment” either.
The IOC is old fashioned, unfair, sexist and corrupt, so yeah that’s also a big turn off.
I’m also disgusted by the whole Olympic Industrial Complex and the way it uses and abuses young athletes for profit.
Furthermore, consumption of media is different now. There were not enough small-bite online options for busy people with short attention spans. The Olympics itself and its media coverage needs to get with the times.
I would love to see a new type of worldwide athletic competition take its place. I wonder what athletes think about that.
I had been watching live coverage of the Winter Games every night and morning, and screwing up my sleep patterns in the process. Then NBC starting relentlessly promoting the New Face of the CCP Eileen Gu, which left a bad taste in my mouth. I suspect China paid NBC to promote Gu as much as they did, almost as much as any athlete competing for the US. Nothing else makes sense. This followed by the CAS allowing a doper with a positive test compete killed my interest entirely. Didn’t watch any figure skating after that decision, I think I watched a bit of alpine skiing to see if Shiffrin could turn it around.
Knowing how corrupt it all is destroyed my interest. NBC can’t very well condemn China for its human rights issues and then turn into a two week long commercial for one of their athletes. $$$$
Eileen’s tone deaf response to someone who wanted to know how she as a Chinese citizen (which you have to be in order to compete for China) was able to access social media that everyone else is forbidden to on the pain of fines or imprisonment left a bad taste as well. She was like “anyone download it” like the person was stupid for this very real and important question.
Her family is rich and well connected in China. She didn’t come from a “poor immigrant” background.
All of her answers about China are non-answers. I don’t think she’s ever given a straight answer about them or anything important. The fact that American media is on the bandwagon promoting her and her message… very, very disturbing. Dangerous.
I suspect she is still a U.S. citizen and was given a pass so she could compete for China. That’s why she wouldn’t answer. Nobody else gets a pass like that. No way is she going to Stanford as a Chinese citizen. Give up U.S. citizenship just for sport? Nope. Her mom and grandmother both live in the U.S., after immigrating. Why would their daughter give that up?
I couldn’t bring myself to watch one minute of the coverage. Knowing China is detaining millions in camps because of their religion just killed the desire in me to see it. But I am also not as into the Winter Olympics as the summer games.
I wasn’t planning to watch the Olympics, but Canada’s national broadcaster the CBC had live coverage every evening and early morning. I didn’t check NBC, but I ended up watching a lot and really enjoyed it. It was excellent broadcasting and I felt it really supported the country’s athletes.
Agree with everyone here who said the network made it difficult to figure out how and when to watch. We set the DVR to what we thought would catch the competiions and we got just a fraction of what we had wanted to watch. That said, the ratings don’t reflect streaming, which is how a lot of people watched. The final numbers are as much an intictment of the outdated ratings process as what viewers actually did.
It was so boring. And the only interesting thing was Leslie Jones. As soon as NBC went for her Twitter/Instagram updates I stopped watching all together
I think it is under appreciated how many people actively tuned out because they were held in China. I know these athletes have worked incredibly hard for that moment, but I wish the US had completely boycotted instead of the half-@$$ “not sending diplomats” boycott. If we can’t take a stand against communism and genocide, what is it going to take?
It’s just a perfect storm of things designed to drive away viewers. Years of making streaming difficult or impossible, decades of corrupt judging in popular sports, regular scandals about the ways in which young athletes are abused (sexual abuse in the US gymnastics program and now doping in the Russian figure skating one), and now holding the games in a country that is actively repressing human rights in Hong Kong and committing genocide against the Uyghurs? Hard pass. There are a lot of other things I can do with my time that don’t make me feel dirty.
The genocide and horrific crimes aside from all countries… it’s not entertaining.
I didn’t realize it was happening until the scandal and I couldn’t justify giving it any of my time. Like nearly all broadcasted awards… it’s fixed. I’m all set.
I do love Johnny and Tara. More of them.
Huge fan of Johnny and Tara, and they are an underutilized treasure. I would watch those two shovel snow.
Tara and Johnny know what they’re talking about, having been Olympic skaters themselves and went on to be experienced professionals. They can comment on aspects of a program that would otherwise be missed. Love their energy.
Johnny’s live translating during the Russian Skating Nuclear Meltdown was epic. Skating in general has a lot of dramas but that meltdown was one for the ages. I had not known Johnny always had Russian coaches and needed to learn it but boy was it handy. Each of the Russian girls were abused and it played out in different flavors for each one. Russia needs to be thrown out! I don’t have positives for NBC, I pretty much still hate them over Matt Lauer and firing Bob Costas.
The way the world is, watching any kind of ‘games’ feels obscene. I feel sorry for our traditions diminishing, but here we are. The torch is truly a wallflower presently.
I kept forgetting it was even on. I told my mom before it started that the drama was going to overshadow all of the sports. I think I was right.
That’s what they get for trying to shut down Leslie Jones
You got that right! 💗
I’ve always preferred the summer games over the winter games but I would at least tune in for ice skating if nothing else. I didn’t watch any of last summer’s Olympics or this one which was a first for me. I remember there used to be a build-up of U.S. athletes heading to the Olympics. Maybe it still happens but I missed it because I was probably watching something else. Since I cut the cord and started streaming TV, I rarely watch anything on network television in real-time anymore unless it’s Sunday football.
I enjoy the ice skating events. They’re all stunning and magical. The older i get, though, the more the winter olympics in particular make it clear that the olympics are for privileged, mostly white youths from wealthy western nations to show off stuff like ski jumping skills that their daddy’s CEO job paid for that none of the rest of us care about.
Even the few central and south american countries who sent athletes to this Olympics, many of the team members seemed to be U.S. or Canadians who couldn’t make their own country’s team so fell back on some distant ancestry or convenient international residency to drum together a team for another country.
I’m not downplaying anyone’s athleticism or sportsmanship, just saying even in the U.S. most of us are from modest backgrounds and have never touched a ski or seen those different sled thingies in real life, so it’s hard to get excited about seeing people compete in those events.
So much of that requires money and time. And those are definitely wealthy people sports. Those lessons and all the equipment and clothes are not cheap. And if you don’t have any skiing in your country, you have to have the money to train elsewhere.
I love the olympics but I haven’t enjoyed the coverage the last two times. For example, the ice skating routines made no mention of the music or the name of the program. I could not tell which ice skating I was watching, I swear it was the same program three times, but one of them was the team event? Hug? Lower quality narration in general across all sports IMO.
Everytime I turned on the olympics it was luge, EVERY TIME. I don’t know why. I sound like an old fart, but it used to be better I swear.
They shoulda let me watch for free on Peacock. This is on them.
I had to give Peacock my email address to get a log in. Then I watched for free. I wish I would have gone the vpn route so I could get the CBC which has always been so much better than NBC.
I like the Olympics, it’s a childhood holdover with the stove popped popcorn we ate. I have never liked the platter of jingoism that it was, and is served on. I like watching all countries compete not the cherry picked few served up at prime time. I detest the authoritarian flex of countries who repress, “re-educate”, or disappear (temporarily or permanently) their citizens. Countries that then use the Olympics opening and closing ceremonies as made for tv propaganda. The doping is more prevelant when there is a state sponsored agenda of political and cultural superiority. I will not get the NBC app because they have a network, and I am tired of being monetised, and then have my data commoditised. Same with ESPN and the Tennis Channel. I already pay for these channels, it’s called a cable subscription, which is not cheap.
I watched the live Olympic coverage on USA channel and screwed up sleep cycle like @ Brita because I like watching all of the sport on offer in its entirety.
I miss Tennis Channel. It got dropped from my cable when it was bought out by Sinclair Broadcast Group which is a huge conservative media group.
The only thing I wanted from the Olympics was for Sui/Han to win pairs and that act single handedly saved figure skating. They went through so many injuries and prejudice because of Han’s height, idk if there was a NBC fluff piece on them but there should’ve been
First time ever that I did not watch. It reeked of child abuse, cheating, and selling out – side eye to Eileen Gu. Gu’s image is a big money maker China, but take it from Dior, do not even think about using a Chinese model with less “fair” skin or smaller eyes.
It all seems very disingenuous in the current environment of a pandemic, global recession, rising food and gas prices, increased cost of living, Russia on the brink of war etc etc etc…
And then the events themselves being rigged as fuck full of cheaters like come on. What a massive waste of money and resources. No wonder no one wanted to watch
On the day of the opening ceremonies, I saw an article about it and went, “Huh. There’s an Olympics this year?”
I don’t own a TV, so that’s a large part of it, but it sure seemed like there wasn’t much hype going on across other media streams.
The NBC Sports app was much better than Peacock, had a live feed and it was still free. I wish they promoted that more.
Meanwhile, in Canada it was on ratings hit with high television viewership and high streaming numbers. I did watch some on the American coverage and it just sucks. The network needs to stop blaming their audience and look at their poor ability to cover the events.