Why Were The TV Ratings For The Olympics So Bad ?
The right wing newspaper the New York Post would like us to believe that the US television ratings for the Tokyo Olympics were so bad because of "wokeism" , that Americans refused to watch athletes that were not hyper patriotic.
“The people we sent over aren’t representing the country. They’re kneeling at the flag,” said a Maryland man in his 40s, who votes independent.
“I don’t want to see virtue signaling. Be a proud American,” said a 45-year-old New Jersey woman, also an independent.
Olympics were not the patriot games: Devine (nypost.com)
The newspaper says NBC's ratings for the games were just half of what they were for the Rio Olympics five years ago.
I'm not sure lack of patriotism by the athletes is the dominant reason for the ratings slide though. In the first place, I saw many Americans being patriotic, wrapped in or waving a US flag after winning a gold silver or bronze medal. I dont know if they are instructed to do that by team officials, but many of them did it. I also heard many of them who were interviewed say they were proud to be representing their country in front of the world.
Now I dont doubt that many "conservatives" believe that the athletes were all anti-US "woke" , because that is what they are trained to believe by right wing media.
I see at least three other reasons why the ratings were half of Rio.
One is the time factor. Rio is almost on US time, being only one hour ahead of the US east coast. It is easier to present fresh events on the tv coverage that everyone hasnt heard the result of already when the Olympics are held in western hemisphere countries.
Secondly , there are just too many Olympic events, too many names and faces, and even whole sports, to remember in any sort of cohesive way. I looked it up and in 1972 there were 600 total medals given out which means there were roughly 200 different specialties or "events" . In Tokyo this year there were over 1000 total medals awarded which means the number of events is now around 350 . They even had two or three different "disciplines" of skateboarding in this Olympics. There are dozens of swimming specialties. In 1920 there were 10 different swimming events in the Olympics, in 2021 there were 37. It is too much for people to sustain interest in.
Thirdly, there are likely many more viewers than the NBC network ratings show. Every minute of every event was available live on an internet page dedicated by NBC for that purpose.
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The right wing lemmings are denigrating the US Olympic team for not being "patriotic" enough. Funny how its only Trumpsters who have reached that conclusion.
The whole Olympic Team wasn't being denigrated. Just those that were disparaging our flag and anthem. It is the left trying to use a wide paint brush and say the right (outside of a few talking heads) is calling out the entire US Olympic Team.
NBC didn't do themselves any favors with their programming for the Olympics.
1) They can tape and broadcast a popular event anytime they wanted to. Popular events such as women's gymnastics and Men's & Women's basketball should always be Prime Time.
2) They didn't show Team USA many times. Sorry, not interested in two non US teams competing in anything. I can understand if it a medal event; but qualifiers?
3) Too many different channels and trying to find events you wanted to watch- when you wanted to watch them. It was much easier (and far less time consuming) to catch the hi-lites on Youtube or other streaming platforms than sit through NBC's mind numbing programming and commentary.
4) Yes, people were pissed at the "woke" athletes that placed their politics ahead of representing this country; but NBC bears the brunt of the responsibility for all of the mistakes they made. That made it far easier for viewers that were already angry to tune out.
Who were they?
Rationalize it how you want John but it doesn't take a genius to figure out what is going on. NBA goes woke ..... ratings go down ....... NFL goes woke and their rating go down ...... MLB goes woke and their ratings go down ..... etc, etc
People are tired of it. Many of us don't watch sports to get social commentary, so they tune out. That is most definitely what happened to the Olympics. No doubt about it. It wasn't a time zone problem or a too many sports problem. People are tired of sports being used as a political platform.
That said i watched and was pleasantly surprised by the lack protest shown by our athletes. It appears like most of the woke ones weren't good enough to medal. Very karmic i would say.
What you are really saying is that you have no idea how many American athletes in Tokyo were "woke' but you are willing to smear them all for the sake of Trumpism.
I have no doubt that many conservatives "boycotted" the Olympics. They are the same people who send Trump money every month and refuse to wear masks or get vaccinated.
No, what i'm really saying, is exactly what i said. Don't try to spin it to fit the narrative you're pushing John. You know better than to try that BS with me.
Again, people are simply tired of it and are tuning out in droves. A good portion of people who aren't are folks who are "woke" just like the athlete doing the protesting. And if ratings are any indicator, there are a lot fewer of them than there are people tuning out.
John, your understand of people who voted for Trump is sophomoric at best.
1000 medals does not necessarily mean there were 333 events if the 1000 medals included counting all the medals going to team sports winners.
I find it interesting, or at least coincidental, that the order of the top 3 nation medal winners was the same as the order of the three top world economies.
Of course it was a lot easier for me to watch the Olympics since I'm in a closer time zone. But if skateboarding, maybe they'll add hopscotch next time.
Canada didn't do too badly as compared to previous Olympics, but I think it will do better with winter sports.
The best thing to come out of Canada is.....Tessa Virtue
The best thing to leave Canada was ... This guy:
Until now I had thought it was Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky and Alex Trebek.
Don't forget William Shatter!
LOL. I think there are some who might disagree with that. We could go all the way back to Mary Pickford, though.
Sorry, meant William Shatner...
It's okay, I'm sure everyone knew. I didn't even notice the typo.
Finding what you wanted to watch was bad this year. NBC needs to rethink their streaming and live viewing strategies before the Winter Games.
I should also add that there was a lot going on in the country this time, with covid resurgence and all the political nonsense. Definitely not as conducive an atmosphere for getting immersed in the Olympics as a viewer as in other years.
I never really watched the Olympics except when I was much, much younger, but I believe you're right - too many other disastrous things going on.
Another thing we agree on this month. Good Lord, maybe I should have my vital signs checked!
One rotten apple spoils his companions.
There were no rotten apples [deleted]
Morning..To be honest I could not be bothered with the Olympics...I watched some swimming and a few other events..did not watch the opening or closing ceremonies and just thought the whole thing will turn into a super spreader event..
Plus no spectators and no atmosphere...I think there is a certain weariness around the whole world with the virus and many just simply could not be bothered watching..My friends in NZ said the same thing.
The time difference for us for a change was half decent, only an hour behind...And we did extremely well finishing 6th..well ahead of many "power house" European countries...Even gave the Russians and Brits a run for their money...