NBC Universal draws worst Olympics ratings at Beijing 2022

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, an event full of controversies ranging from the doping saga to political boycotts by many nations, recently came to an end last week. However, Beijing 2022 attracted the smallest prime-time audience since NBC Universal began broadcasting the Games, according to the latest viewership figures released by the network.

All this took place amid a period of changing TV viewing habits in various parts of the globe. Notably, the Winter Olympics, which aired across broadcast, cable and streaming platforms of Comcast’s NBCU, attracted an average of 11.4 million primetime viewers over its two-and-a-half-week run. The company on Tuesday stated that they marked a 42% drop from the ‘disastrously’ low-rated 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games, which had registered the lowest viewership up until that point.

“This was probably the most difficult Olympics of all time,” NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua told The Wall Street Journal during a recent interview. He further went on to say that to make up for the meagre audience, advertisers were given additional commercial time. “They were made whole throughout the entire Olympics.”

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“COVID pandemic fueled the lacklustre ratings”

Bevacqua stated that possibly the pandemic fueled the lacklustre ratings while pointing to difficulties such as few spectators, athletes wearing masks, no friends and family in the stands. FYI, the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics averaged 15.5 million prime-time viewers, NBC’s lowest-rating Summer Olympics since it began broadcasting the event in 1988.

“We had 1,600 people in Stamford[, Conn.] and 600 people in Beijing. Normally that would be flipped for us,” he added.

On a positive note, the National Broadcasting Company remains bullish on the Games, even as viewership has slipped in the last couple of times. NBC is paying about a whopping $1.3 billion per Olympics through 2032 to broadcast the Games in the United States.

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