July 30 (Reuters) - Broadcasters will not be taking home any gold medals for how many people have watched the Tokyo Olympic Games so far. In several m

Analysis: Why TV audiences are tuning out the Tokyo Olympic Games

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2021-07-30 19:00:10

July 30 (Reuters) - Broadcasters will not be taking home any gold medals for how many people have watched the Tokyo Olympic Games so far.

In several major markets around the world, the TV audience has fallen since 2016, as viewing becomes more fragmented and athletes compete in Japan when audiences are mostly asleep in the United States and Europe.

Ratings data from the opening ceremony and first few nights of events indicate that the Tokyo Games are currently the least watched Olympics in recent history across Europe and in the United States. However, TV viewership is up in Australia and Japan.

Comparisons with previous Olympic Games are imperfect given the different times zones, the COVID pandemic and fewer streaming options in past Games, but a downward trend is clear.

The opening ceremony last Friday drew 16.9 million U.S. TV viewers, the smallest audience for the event in the past 33 years, according to Nielsen data provided by NBCUniversal. read more