NBC’s Olympics TV Ratings Show A Complete Failure

A big storyline of the Tokyo Olympics has been the coverage (or lack thereof) by NBC throughout the entire games.

Some events are only available to stream on Peacock, some are delayed, some require a subscription.

Bottom line: it’s just too damn hard to watch The Olympics.

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Sure enough, the TV ratings are representing how most people feel about the coverage of the Summer Olympics thus far. Actually, they’re even worse than I personally expected.

According to CNN, the Tokyo Olympics’ rating have been down a total of 45% from the Rio Olympics in 2016, and an amazing 51% in prime time.

Financial losses. Plummeting TV ratings. General apathy. Other than all that, the Olympics remain a hit. https://t.co/e41ChkdFM3

— OutKick (@Outkick) August 4, 2021

Is NBC To Blame?

Now, there are some theories on why The Olympics might be losing viewers that don’t include the ridiculous streaming loophole NBC has been throwing us through.

The right-wingers will point to athletes wokeness. But it’s much more likely that the pandemic has simply made people lose interest in The Olympics.

A lot of people were questioning why we were having an Olympics without fans in the stadium. And another large reason why people aren’t watching is the 13 hour time difference between Tokyo and the United States. With a lot of the main events happening in the middle of the night, Americans are simply not able to tune in.

NBC has caught a lot of flak for their Olympics coverage, and rightfully so. What felt like an opportunity to get Americans to unite for one thing during a prolonged pandemic has somehow been borderline irrelevant for a variety of different reasons.

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