NBC announced Tuesday that the Winter Olympics averaged 10.7 million television viewers and 11.4 million overall when counting other streaming platforms, making the Beijing Games the least-watched Olympics on record.
The previous low-water mark came last summer at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics, which averaged 15.6 million viewers. The 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang came in at 19.8 million viewers.
The Olympics were marred by several issues, from the lack of NHL players in the men’s hockey competition for the second straight Winter Games, to the controversy surrounding Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva — who was allowed to compete despite a positive doping test. China itself was under fire for human rights abuses, which NBC commentators like Mike Tirico sometimes mentioned on air.
It also was the third straight Olympics to be held in Asia, meaning many events were held while Americans were asleep.
NBC owns the U.S. media rights to the Olympics through 2032.
The next Olympics are the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, France. The 2026 Winter Games will be in Italy.
–Field Level Media