● From our sister site, TheSportsExaminer.com ●
The good news is that the Olympics ratings crater that was Tokyo 2020 (2021) is in the past, as NBC announced a daily average of 30.7 million viewers for its afternoon and primetime shows across NBC and its many platforms on television and digital.
On its face, this figure would be the most ever for an NBC-televised Olympic Games, even better than the London 2012 Games, which reached 30.3 million nightly for its primetime show only.
But those numbers are totally different.
In 2012, the only measurement was for the nightly primetime show on NBC itself. In 2024, the explosion of channels created a different measurement that NBC calls “Total Audience Delivery” or “TAD”:
“Total Audience Delivery is based upon live-plus-same day fast national figures from Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics. Live viewership from 2-5 p.m. ET (Paris Prime) is inclusive of NBC, Peacock, USA Network, E!, Paris Extra 1, Paris Extra 2, and additional NBCU digital platforms. Primetime viewership includes NBC, Peacock, USA Network, Paris Extra 1 and Paris Extra 2.”
Also, no out-of-home audiences were in the figures for Rio 2016; Nielsen added those in 2020. So how to compare prior Games with Paris 2024?
NBC has provided some of the answers.
● No matter how you measure, Paris 2024 was a huge improvement over the 16.9 million Total Audience Delivery average for Tokyo 2020, during Covid and in a bad time zone for American viewers.
● In the case of streaming, the NBC audience report explained:
“Over the full Games, Paris Prime (daytime) and U.S. primetime coverage posted a streaming TAD of 4.1 million viewers daily across Peacock and NBCU Digital platforms.”
● A prior report which covered the first 12 days (out of 17) of the Games showed that the NBC and USA Network primetime shows – only, aired at the same time – averaged 15.9 million viewers nightly. Let’s use that as the full-Games average.
That would indicate that the primetime-only audience was, charitably, somewhere in the 18 million range daily during the Games. That would be considerably less than the Rio 2016 primetime audience of 25.4 million.
Further, if we disassemble the Total Audience Delivery of 30.7 million daily:
● 15.9 million estimate for the primetime shows on NBC and USA;
● 4.1 million for the digital streaming, for 20.0 million combined, leaves
● 10.7 million estimate for the afternoon viewing window on all channels.
If we compare the primetime viewing figures for Rio – 25.4 million across the 2016 Games – Paris did not do as well. But:
(1) Rio was in the Atlantic time zone, one hour ahead of Eastern, meaning many finals were live in primetime. That was not the case in Paris.
(2) Americans do not watch television the same way in 2024 as in 2016. Many just watch highlights, many just watched the primetime shows. But many also tuned in during the day, on whatever platform was available to them, and that has to be taken into account.
NBC has not yet published a “total reach” figure for Paris 2024, which will be quite interesting. Prior Games showed:
● 2012: 217 million audience; 69.1% of U.S. population
● 2016: 198 million audience; 61.3% of U.S. population
● 2021: 150 million audience; 45.3% of U.S. population
This figure will be quite interesting for 2024; TSX was told it was not yet available.
NBC also published a list of top Olympic markets for Paris 2024 by ratings (percent of total homes in a specific market watching)
● 1. 18.9, New Orleans, Louisiana
● 2. 18.5 (tie), West Palm Beach, Florida
● 2. 18.5 (tie(, Tulsa, Oklahoma
● 4. 17.5, Dayton, Ohio
● 5. 17.3, Minneapolis, Minnesota
● 6. 17.1, Kansas City, Missouri
● 7. 16.7, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
● 8. 16.2, Fort Myers, Florida
● 9. 16.1 (tie), Milwaukee, Wisconsin
● 9. 16.1 (tie), Louisville, Kentucky
● 9. 16.1 (tie), Richmond, Virginia
None of these markets are in the top 10 in the U.S.; Minneapolis is the largest at no. 15. The top large market for the Games was Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas (no. 5), in a tie for 18th at 15.2.
Observed: By any measurement, the Paris 2024 Games was a huge improvement in interest and engagement over Tokyo, dispelling any argument that the Olympic Games is somehow not relevant any more.
That an average of more than 30 million Americans watched the same thing over a 17-day period is really impressive and speaks to continuing, strong interest in the Games as a spectator event, or as the head of the Olympic Broadcasting Services has said, an “audience aggregator.”
This is good news for NBC, for the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, but especially for the International Olympic Committee, which now has better leverage to ask for even more money from NBC or another U.S. network or a consortium, which may be the future.
The last U.S. rights extension with NBC was in 2014, paying $7.65 billion for six Games: Olympic Games in 2024-28-32 and Winter Games in 2022-26-30 The Salt Lake City Winter Games in 2034 will be the first Games on a new U.S. contract, yet another reason why the IOC will be loathe to invoke its new “termination clause” over any disrespect to the World Anti-Doping Agency.
~ Rich Perelman
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