Ian Patrick, FISM News
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Ratings for the 2022 Beijing Olympics confirmed expectations going into the Games, that many weren’t going to tune in and watch this year.
This year was “the least watched ever,” according to The Hollywood Reporter, as NBCUniversal averaged 11.4 million viewers across its multiple platforms. For reference, that number is down 26% from the total viewership for the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics which grabbed 15.5 million viewers.
Compared to the last Winter Olympics held in 2018 at Pyeongchang, which held an average of 19.8 million viewers, ratings dropped a whopping 42% for the 2022 Games.
This decrease in viewership is difficult to attribute, as there seem to be multiple reasons. Sports Illustrated noted that this drop in viewership “is on par with the general decline of network television ratings over the past four years, and consistent with previous Olympics trends.”
Early reports before the start of the Olympics also suggest that viewership may have also been affected by China’s ghastly human rights record. FISM News had previously reported on a poll which said that 47% of Americans were planning on skipping this year’s Games because they disapprove of China hosting, given their abuse of the Uyghur Muslims and limitations on individual freedoms.
A Christian persecution watchdog even issued a plea for Christians worldwide to specifically avoid the Games this year because of China’s human rights abuses and freedom limitations.
The ratings decrease became apparent even on the opening night of coverage for this year’s Games. Sports Media Watch reported that an average of 7.25 million viewers tuned in on the first night, which it called “the smallest primetime Olympic audience ever on the network.”
Despite the drop in overall viewership, NBC did see a significant increase for its streaming audience. Among Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, and the NBC Sports App there was an average of 516,000 viewers. This number is up 8 percent from the 2021 Games “and an all-time high for any Olympics in the streaming era,” according to The Reporter.
Streaming comprised 4.5 percent of the primetime viewership this year. Viewers in the United States watched a total of 4.3 billion minutes of Olympic coverage across all platforms, which is a 78% increase compared to the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and just behind the 5.6 billion minutes watched during the 2021 Tokyo Games.
NBCU reportedly said that Peacock had its “best 18-day stretch of usage” thanks to its extensive coverage and features from the Beijing Games.
Mark Lazarus, chairman NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, lauded both the USA network and Peacock for helping to bring in audiences.
…USA Network registered the best two-week stretch of any sports and entertainment cable network. With sharply increased signups, usage and awareness, Peacock streamed every Olympic moment for the first time ever and delivered a user experience that was greatly enhanced from just six months ago.