NBC ratings drop despite Olympic buzz

Despite the Olympic Buzz, that has not translated to NBC’s ratings

NBC’s TV audience for the summer Olympics is down a whopping 45% from the Rio games in 2016.

It is not all doom and gloom as NBC is still drawing in a bigger audience than its rivals.

The other bright spot for NBC is that the Tokyo Games have found an audience via digital platforms and streaming.

The other bright spot for NBC is that the Tokyo Games have found an audience via digital platforms and streaming.

The network boasted that Peacock, its streaming service, has notched strong viewership for the games. On Tuesday, NBC said that viewers had streamed 3 billion minutes of Olympics coverage across NBCOlympics.com, the NBC Sports app, and its Peacock streaming services.

Moreover, NBC said that number is “pacing to surpass Rio Olympics total in next few days.” But why, in the traditional TV sense, are the ratings in free-fall? After all, this is the Olympics — historically one of the most-watched telecasts around the world.

Its ability to bring together large swaths of viewers is one of the main reasons NBC is paying billions of dollars to televise the games over the next decade.

The world changes to streaming

One major reason: The TV world is drastically different than it was five years ago. With the surge of social media and streaming, there’s more for audiences to watch than ever, and that leads to more media fragmentation.