Anything that is linked to China, is bound to have a mixed reception and the 2022 Winter Olympics, which is currently taking place in Beijing from 4th to 20th February is no exception. The 24th edition of the quadrennial event has met with a staggeringly low viewership and the majority of it boils down to many factors, from China’s image to the world, as well as hosting the Games amidst the rise of the omicron variant of COVID-19.
Right from its opening ceremony, the ongoing Beijing Winter Olympics has been hit with lesser rating and viewership when compared to its previous edition, the 2018 Games which took place in Pyeongchang. The opening ceremony at the Chinese capital saw 16 million viewership as quoted by NBC, which is a 43% drop from the 28.3 million viewership recorded in 2018. Even the Summer Olympics in Tokyo last year had clocked a 17 million viewership on its opening day.
The mixed diplomatic relationship between the two countries which has its fair share of bitterness is one factor why the US viewers are less interested in watching the Winter Games in Beijing, the only city to ever host both the Summer and Winter Oympics.
“There are a whole range of subliminal factors that are negatives when it comes to an event in China,” the former president of CBS Sports Neil Pilson stated, “It just adds to the obvious issues, and it leads to the American public being not as interested in the Games this year.”
“The sky is definitely not falling. Yes, we have run into a bunch of bad factors that have made it harder for us. But most importantly, we had a realistic view on the audiences we were going to deliver, and we are delivering what we promised to the marketing community,” said Mark Lazarus, the Chairman of NBCUniversal Television, “But our trend line is pretty good. Our ratings have gone up the last three days. We are feeling that America is finding the Olympics.”
Highlights:
- The Beijing Winter Olympics and is on the path to become the lowest-rated Olympics ever with recording the lowest viewership on NBC
- The opening ceremony clocked 16 million viewership on the NBC, a major drop from the 28.3 million viewership recorded in 2018 at the Pyeongchang Games
