Blame it on Rio: Nielson ratings down 15% for the Olympics
We’ve discussed the dismal Olympic viewership numbers before; however, seeing Bob Costas in a picture with people noticeably shorter than him got us to click on this story and revisit the issue again. (darn click-bait!)
The devil, as they say, is in the details. Earlier this week, once NBC starting touting its online viewership numbers, then we knew that it was going to be the Millenials sheer avoidance of the games that was going to be the tell-tale sign of where things fell apart for NBC. And avoid they did — a 30% decline from London.
Of course, the Millennials didn’t “miss” the games, they just watched all the highlights on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and other social platforms . . . all impressions that Comcast (CMCSA) saw little to no revenue from.
Through the 17 nights of ceremonies and competition, NBC averaged 26 million viewers and a 14.9 household rating, which marked a 15% decline from the 2012 Summer Games’ draw of 31.1 million viewers and a 17.5 rating. (Rio’s ratings reflect NBC’s Total Audience Delivery, a metric that blends broadcast and cable prime-time deliveries with streaming data.)
According to Nielsen, NBC’s prime-time Olympics coverage averaged a 5.3 rating among adults 18 to 34, which marks a staggering 31% decline compared to the 7.7 rating in the demo notched by the London Games. As a result, this was the oldest-skewing Olympics going back to 1960, the year the Olympics were first televised here in the U.S. The median age of the Rio Games was 52.4 years, up 6% from London’s 49.5 years and up 15% when compared to the 2000 Sydney Olympics (45.5 years).
Source: Nightmare in Rio: NBC’s Olympics Ratings Down 15% Vs. London | Special: The Olympics – AdAge
