Five reasons the Olympic ratings fell

American Gracie Gold failed to medal, as did the other U.S. figure skaters.

It’s hard to argue with the dominance of the Olympics.

NBC drew three times as many viewers as its closest competition during the Games, and the network has vaulted back into first place for the season among adults 18-49, knocking Fox out of the top spot.

But viewership for the Games was down notably from the 2010 Vancouver Games.

NBC averaged 21.4 million total viewers, according to Nielsen, for 16 days of Olympics coverage, off 12 percent from the 24.4 million it averaged four years ago.

So why the decline?

The most obvious reason is that these Games were taped. While many primetime events aired live from Vancouver, which is in the same time zone as parts of the U.S., Sochi is nine hours ahead of the Eastern time zone.

When U.S. viewers were just tuning in to NBC for coverage at 8 p.m., the events had been over for hours and the results widely disseminated on social and other forms of media.

That obviously took a toll on viewership. When an event does not air live, it takes away some of the urgency. Knowing that all the results were taped sapped some people’s interest in the Games.

But that was hardly the only reason for the dip in ratings. Here are four more reasons why the Sochi Games saw viewership decline from 2010:

1. No standout U.S. athlete

In past years, athletes such as Michelle Kwan, Apolo Anton Ohno or Shaun White have become the face of the Games. But this year no single U.S. athlete rose above the others to capture people’s attention. That also meant there was little reason to tune in for viewers who are not die-hard sports fans.

2. Limited U.S. success in popular events

The United States won most of its medals in the extreme sports it was expected to dominate, like slopestyle skiing and snowboard halfpipe. But in events that are better known to viewers, older viewers especially, the U.S. struggled. There were no individual speed skating or figure skating medals this year, the first time that has happened in decades.

3. Access to live online events

This is a very small part of the ratings decline but one that media buyers are concerned about for future Olympics as online video becomes ubiquitous. Nearly 62 million people watched on NBC digital properties, up 29 percent from 2010.

4. Social media’s impact

Social media can have a good or bad influence on the Games, as NBC discovered during the 2012 London Games. When results are posted on social media, it can sometimes drive bigger tune-in in primetime, as people watch to see unexpected medals or exciting performances. But in an Olympics like this one, where the U.S. performance in popular events was lacking, it can have the opposite effect. No one wants to tune in to watch a U.S. athlete just miss a medal.

***

In broadcast ratings for the week ended Feb. 23:

Among adults 18-49, NBC was first for the week with a 4.2 average rating and a 12 share, followed by Fox at 1.8/5, Univision at 1.4/4, ABC and CBS at 1.1/3, Telemundo at 0.4/1, ION, CW and UniMás at 0.3/1, Estrella, Me-TV and Bounce TV at 0.1/0 and Aztec and MundoFox at 0.0/0.

Top five English-language Big Five shows (18-49s): 1. NBC’s “Winter Olympics Monday Prime” 5.6; Tie-2. NBC’s “Winter Olympics Thursday Prime,” “Winter Olympics Wednesday Prime” and “Winter Olympics Tuesday Prime” 5.0; 5. NBC’s “Winter Olympics Friday Prime” 3.6.

Top five English-language Big Five shows (total viewers): 1. NBC’s “Winter Olympics Monday Prime” 23.55 million; 2. NBC’s “Winter Olympics Thursday Prime” 20.29 million; 3. NBC’s “Winter Olympics Wednesday Prime” 20.19 million; 4. NBC’s “Winter Olympics Tuesday Prime” 18.93 million; 5. NBC’s “Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony” 15.12 million.

Show on the rise: ABC’s “20/20,” Friday, 10 p.m. The newsmagazine posted a 1.4 rating among 18-49s, up 27 percent from a 1.1 the previous week.

Show on the decline: Fox’s “American Idol,” Thursday, 8 p.m. The reality competition posted a 2.4 among 18-49s, down 20 percent from the previous week’s 3.0.

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