Viewership for Olympics Drops to All-Time Low

If you didn’t check out the Winter Olympics this year, you’re not alone — NBC’s coverage of the Beijing games drew the lowest ratings in the event’s history on the network.

“This was probably the most difficult Olympics of all time,” says NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua. The games, which were available on NBC’s broadcast, cable and streaming channels, attracted an average of 11.4 million primetime viewers over its two-and-a-half week run, the network reports.

That marks a 42 percent drop from the 2018 Olympics, which previously held the title for the lowest-rated games. The current ratings were so dismal that NBC gave advertisers free commercial time to make up for the lack of viewers, Bevacqua says. The Olympics’ best night came on February 13th, when 21.2 million viewers tuned in, according to NBC.

However, the credit for the high number of viewers likely has a lot to do with another sporting event — the Super Bowl aired on NBC immediately following the Olympics telecast.

NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage this year drew the smallest audience in its history — dropping more than 40% since the last winter Games.https://t.co/wAe3cF1n9y

— NPR (@NPR) February 23, 2022