Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 Drew Shockingly Poor Numbers in the History of NBC Broadcasting

For years, NBC has had the rights to cover the Olympics and broadcast it in the US. So every 4 years, hundreds of NBC correspondents go to the Olympic venue to cover the big games.

The Olympics being the biggest games ever, hundreds of millions of users tune in to watch it live on NBC. The Olympics are one of the most-watched events, along with the NFL’s Super Bowl in the United States.

However, things didn’t look do good this year for NBC when they broadcasted the Beijing Winter Olympics. The Winter Olympics 2022 drew in the lowest ratings in the history of NBC broadcasting.

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Beijing Winter Olympics return one of the lowest ratings for NBC

The Beijing Winter Olympics were aired across platforms, not only broadcast but also cable and streaming platforms of Comcast?s NBCU. It attracted 11.4 million prime-time viewers, and even if this looks like a big number, it is actually low for NBC, given their previous ratings.

11.4 million prime-time viewers, actually indicates a 42% drop from the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018. The Pyeongchang games had already registered the lowest viewership. But now, the Beijing Winter Olympics viewership has hit an all-time low.

Chairman of NBC Sports Pete Bevacqua has revealed that this was one of the most difficult Olympics for them. So much so that they had to give ads additional time on TV.

?This was probably the most difficult Olympics of all time,? said Pete Bevacqua.

This is not the first time it happened. Even during the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, NBC registered an average viewership of 15.5 million prime time viewers. This number is obviously not too far off from the Beijing Winter Olympics. However, Tokyo 2020 is NBC’s lowest-rated Summer Olympic Games since 1988.

What was the reason behind such a low rating?

According to the Chairman, the pandemic and China’s extreme measures are to blame for this low rating. Bevacqua has revealed that China had very strict rules in place, which hindered their coverage of the events.

While 600 correspondents were in Beijing, 1600 were in the US. This was a first because normally, the higher number of correspondents would be in the host city.

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

Moreover, each event only allowed a limited number of spectators. Athletes were asked to wear masks at all times, which, according to Bevacqua could also be a possible reason. Moreover, there were no family members to cheer on the athletes, which normally NBC would cover.

However, it is interesting to note that the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 was still the most-watched series after Tokyo Games. This tally however, does not include the NFL.