The TV ratings for the opening ceremony for the Olympics in Japan were absolutely terrible.
According to Reuters, 16.7 million viewers tuned in Friday night on NBC to watch the games kick off in Tokyo. Just how bad is the viewership data? (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
It’s the lowest ratings for an opening ceremony in 33 years.
NBC’s broadcast of the Olympic Games opening ceremony drew the smallest audience in 33 years. https://t.co/EtvL5oKEYB
— Timothy Aeppel (@TimAeppel) July 25, 2021
There are probably a lot of reasons for why the ratings are down in a substantial way, but I think there are two very easy explanations.
Number one, everyone is treating these games like an absolute joke because of coronavirus. Fans are banned, there’s a bunch of dumb rules and nobody appears to be taking it overly seriously.
Hell, the Olympic village has beds made out of cardboard. If people on the ground aren’t taking the situation seriously, why would fans?
“Anti-sex” beds at the Olympics pic.twitter.com/2jnFm6mKcB
— Rhys Mcclenaghan (@McClenaghanRhys) July 18, 2021
Secondly, the opening ceremony was held on a Friday as America is open and booming again. It’s hard to convince people to stay at home and watch instead of going out.
Trust me, I was out Friday and I saw a ton of people doing the same. If watching the Olympic opening ceremony or going out on a Friday in July, I’m choosing the latter 100% of the time.
Some people might want to blame woke politics here, but I think that’s a stretch. There are much simpler explanations on the table.