美国国家公共电台 NPR NBC Declares Rio A 'Media' Success, Though TV Ratings Were Down

NBC Declares Rio A 'Media' Success, Though TV Ratings Were Down

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And the Olympic Games may be over. But speculation over the cause of sagging TV ratings continues. NPR TV critic Eric Deggans says NBC is trying hard to spin the numbers.

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ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: NBC has a bit of a problem when it comes to ratings for its 17 days of coverage of the Summer Olympics Games in Rio. It drew an average total audience of 25.4 million viewers on the broadcast network in prime time.

That's 198 million people overall on TV, which pushed their viewership far ahead of competing networks and cable channels. But those numbers pale in comparison to the last Summer Olympics in London. Those set a record as the most watched TV event in U.S. history. An average 31.1 million viewers watched the London Games in prime time, compared to Rio's 25.4 million.

In fact, the Rio ratings were the first time the TV audience declined from the previous Summer Olympics since the games in Sydney, Australia back in 2000. NBC tried to spin the ratings in a press release Monday, calling the Rio Olympics the most successful media event in history.

They cited the achievement of presenting more than 6,700 hours of programming across broadcast networks, cable channels, websites and the NBC Sports app. Those moments included Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt winning three gold medals in an unprecedented feat called a triple triple.

Though it's possible that TV ratings faltered a bit due to increased online viewing, NBC says 95 percent of its prime-time audience watched on the network. Other possible factors in the ratings drop include game results spread over social media, backlash from too many commercials in prime time and dominant athletes like Bolt, whose near-certain victories removed a lot of the suspense.

Whatever the reason, this year's Olympics failed to deliver ratings in the way NBC needed, raising questions about whether viewers still see the games as appointment television. I'm Eric Deggans.