Viewership of the 2022 Winter Olympics was so bad, NBC's coverage of the Beijing games drew the lowest ratings in the event's history on the network.
"This was probably the most difficult Olympics of all time," NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua told The Wall Street Journal.
The games, which were available on NBC's broadcast, cable and streaming channels, attracted an average of 11.4 million primetime viewers over its two-and-a-half week run, the network reported.
Figures released Monday show NBC's Winter Olympics coverage in China drew the smallest TV audience in its history, dropping roughly 42% from the 19.8 million average for the last Winter Games in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, which at the time was the least-watched Olympics in history, NPR reported.
The Olympics' best night came on February 13th, when 21.2 million viewers tuned in, following the broadcast of the Super Bowl, according to NBC. The Opening Ceremony reached nearly 16 million viewers.
The current ratings were so dismal that NBC gave advertisers free commercial time to make up for the lack of viewers, Bevacqua said. The network declined to mention whether or not it made a profit during the games.
Several factors contributed to the audience's waning interest, Bevacqua added, including the lack of crowds due to the pandemic and "very harsh protocols" to curb the spread of COVID-19 in China. Controversies regarding the country's human rights record also likely played a factor.
The network noted, however, that it was the most streamed Winter Games ever, with a total of 4.3 billion minutes consumed across NBCUniversal digital and social media platforms
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