COVID didn't kill the Olympics, because they're already dead

Sadly, this form of TV viewing is from a bygone era that will never return

Let me start this out by saying, I love the Olympics. I’m not a hater. Sure, NBCUniversal’s coverage of the games, while voluminous, was frustrating to navigate. But the events themselves were fantastic. I’m a total sucker for the stories, the patriotism, the weird and not so weird events. It’s too bad that so many people didn’t get into the games this year because they seriously missed out.

But let’s not sugar coat it - the ratings were bad -really bad. The numbers have been slipping for years, but this was cliff-falling-off territory: down 42% (!!) from 2016, per the Wall Street Journal.

NBCU is quick to point out that the games drew 15.5 million viewers a night, a great number these days relative to the rest of network TV in the summer. Reminds me of the great Dennis Miller line about being valedictorian of Summer School.

NBCU is also putting a lot of the blame on COVID, which delayed the games and made for an altogether weird atmosphere.

“When you look at the numbers in general and the impact that Covid has had on sports, we were prepared for these numbers,” NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua told WSJ. “For better or worse, I really do believe the pandemic and postponement impacted these games.”

Sure, but that’s also very convenient. There’s no question that events like swimming and gymnastics lose something without fans (and lots of sports ratings were down last year when stadiums were empty for baseball, the NBA, etc.). The Tokyo time difference is a killer. People want to be out doing things during Hot Vax Summer, before Delta Death Fall sends us all inside again.

Still, it’s not clear why the games being postponed really matters. Are Olympics fans out there saying ‘you know what, I’m so used to watching these games during even- numbered-years - this is just too weird.”

More likely, there are watching “Ted Lasso” or “White Lotus” or season six of “It’s Always Sunny” or whatever the hell they want whenever. And they may have kept forgetting, or not even know, that the Olympics were on.

The New York Times had a great piece a few weeks ago titled “The Olympics Are Great for Streaming. But Is Streaming Great for NBC?”

I sort of agree and disagree with the story’s premise at the same time. For years, when I was covering the emergence of streaming, I was one of many media reporters screaming, “put all of the games online already! who cares about primetime!” I remember being in the Mediaweek offices amazed that were we able to watch a rowing event without buffering.

Now NBC puts almost all of the events online (the streaming numbers were great), and I barely bother.

Yes, given the sheer number of events, it would seem to make sense that a fully on-demand media experience ideally serves the Olympics. But then again, so many of these sports are on the obscure side.

Realistically, unless you played water polo in college, or your kid has a chance at a volleyball scholarship at Quinnipiac, most of us don’t what’s going on with these events. Sure, if Katie Ledecky is racing, I gotta see it. But mostly I need someone to tell me what to care about and what’s going on lately in the world of Pairs Diving. I’m too busy. And I’m too used to being able to just binge what I want.

If you think about it, The Olympics were actually the ultimate broadcasting sport, because they lent themselves to Programming and Packaging. Historically, you didn’t just watch gymnastics, you watched a 15-minute pre-produced profile of an athlete whose village was lost to an avalanche and had to practice in the woods and overcome Athlete’s Foot before she made it Seoul or wherever. And then the uneven bars routine.

People would immerse themselves in the Olympics, and let network storytellers drive- literally for 17 days. There are very few people who watch television like that anymore. Even since Rio in 2016, how many people’s first TV stop is now apps for Netflix and Hulu, where you’re completely cut off from Olympic news or promos, rather than ‘putting TV on?” Are you and you’re signifcant other really going to give up two weeks of binging just on the off-hand chance that you’ll catch an amazing fencing match?

(side note - I realize NBCU spends a utter fortune for the rights to these games, and brands pay big money to become exclusive sponsors - but if there was ever an argument for opening up the schedule to a much wider berth of advertisers, it was this year. If I saw that Toyota ad one more time, I was going to adopt an amputee from Siberia just to make it stop).

The sad (maybe sad?) reality is, even if the pandemic ends, and the Olympics are back on schedule and they take place in a nearby timezone, this form of captive TV consumption is never coming back. Which means the economics of the Olympics broadcasting model are in serious jeopardy long term.

What that means for the viability of the games, I’m not sure. I’ll still watch next time - just maybe not as much.