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THE OPENING ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, which was held last weekend, did not produce satisfactory results. Based on preliminary data from Comcast’s NBCUniversal, it was noted that NBC’s broadcast of the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony was watched by only 16.7 million viewers.
This is the smallest number of TV viewers for the show in 33 years. Counting data from all platforms, including NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app, 17 million people watched the ceremony, the company said by email.
Streaming viewership on the platform grew 76% from the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics opening ceremony and 72% from the 2016 Rio Olympics opening. This also reflects a change in viewing habits.
Viewers on Friday (23/7) saw a sharp, albeit difficult, drop compared to the previous opening ceremony when viewers had fewer options to stream the content. TV viewership at the Tokyo Olympics opener is down 37% compared to the 2016 Olympics opening, when 26.5 million people watched the Rio de Janeiro Olympics opener and dropped 59% from 2012, when 40.7 million people watched the opening ceremony at the London Olympics.
In fact, the current attendance is the lowest in 33 years for the opening ceremony of the summer Olympics. The previous lowest attendance was the 1992 Barcelona opening, when 21.6 million people watched. The opener for the 1988 Seoul Olympics was also one of the lowest after attracting only 22.7 million viewers.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also reduced the Tokyo Olympics opening event. It only took place with less than 1,000 participants at the Olympic Stadium, under strict social distancing rules.
The ceremony was marked by the absence of dignitaries, including former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who won the Olympics in Tokyo. The main sponsor also stepped away, highlighting the strong opposition to the event in Japan exhausted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the other hand, the decline in viewership also occurred due to Tokyo time being 13 hours ahead of the US east coast, making NBC, for the first time broadcast the ceremony live in the morning, at 6:55 am EST Friday (7/23). [antaranews]
