Since 2011, NBC has committed to a total of $12.1 billion for the right to broadcast the Olympic Games. At the time when the Peacock Network first bought rights for four games ($4.38B), and when NBC added another seven ($7.7B), it seemed a prudent investment as live sports were as secure a draw as any in an increasingly tough competition for attention spans.
But the Olympics may not be as good as gold anymore.
Viewership for these Winter Olympic Games has been down 24% compared to Sochi in 2014 in the key demographic of 18- to 49-year-olds, the age demographic most coveted by advertisers. Or 15% if an observer throws in broadcasts from both NBC and NBC Sports Network, which is airing prime-time coverage of the Olympics for the first time. Those numbers follow on the heels of an equally disappointing 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.
Sure, the network will leave Pyeongchang with a substantial profit from advertising revenue, but the trend is worrisome. As CNN Money puts it, “the biggest question NBC faces isn’t Olympics profitability right now — it’s what this year’s poor ratings bode for profitability two years down the line, and four years, and so on.”
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