Every four years, athletes come together from all over the world to compete in the Olympic Games. It is their time to not only go for gold, but also get a strike of fame from the broadcasting done at the Olympics.
But as the years have progressed, viewership for the games continues to decline.
According to an article done by Bloomberg, the Winter Olympics’ viewership rate is down by almost 50% from four years ago with a viewership of around 12.3 million viewers a night. The Summer Olympics‘ viewership also dropped a staggering 42% from four years ago and drew an average of 15.5 million viewers at any given time.
So what happened to the popularity of the Olympic games?
Junior CJ Smith only saw clips of the Olympics on TikTok and Instagram instead of watching the games on live television. “It’s just more convenient. People of our generation don’t really watch TV any more, and seeing the occasional Shaun White clip is all I need to stay up to date on the games,” he said.
During the games, there was a large amount of short clips on TikTok that allowed consumers to watch notable moments of the Winter Olympics. Along with popular clips, the entertainment site also had creators post news about the games. The increase of clips from TikTok could completely erase the need to watch the Olympics on broadcast television.
Tom Roemer, a swim coach and former swimmer who competed at the Olympic trials, said there might be a loss of interest for the games. “I think it might just be that nobody is interested in the sports that happen in the Winter Olympics. Personally, I watch the Summer Olympics because I’m interested in swimming, and it is also fun to see how fast people can run or how far people can throw things,” he said.
In the United States alone, there are roughly 23,500 people who practice the sport curling. When it comes to swimming, there are approximately 27.5 million people who swim for fitness and competition.
With a significantly smaller number of athletes competing in certain games compared to swimming or track, people may not find the same interest in the winter games compared to the sports in the Summer Olympics.
As the United States continues to move towards a more digitalized world, will the Olympic games continue to decrease in viewership? Or will the Olympics experience newfound popularity on new streaming platforms?
