August 18, 2004
MUST NOT SEE TV:
Olympics ratings start off pace (Bloomberg News, August 17, 2004)
NBC's ratings for the first three days of the Summer Olympics, which includes Friday's opening ceremonies, fell 3 percent from the first three days of the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney.The network telecasts for Friday through Sunday were watched by an average 14.1 percent of the 108.4 million U.S. households with televisions, compared with 14.6 percent that watched the Sydney games, NBC said today, citing data from Nielsen Media Research Inc.
NBC spent a record $793 million for the U.S. rights to the Athens Games, four times what it spends on all its other sports combined. Four years ago, NBC posted the lowest ratings for a Summer Olympics since the 1968 games in Mexico City. Television ratings for Friday's opening ceremonies fell 12 percent from the Sydney ceremony.
Professionalization, commercialization, medication, and the end of the Cold War have taken a big toll. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 18, 2004 2:59 PM
I hear ratings for the NFL are strong. :)
Posted by: kevin whited at August 18, 2004 3:02 PMEspecially the last. It's really hard to hate those cute little girl gymnasts from Romania now that they aren't Commies.
Posted by: Jeff at August 18, 2004 4:23 PMThe internet allows us to know the results hours before the telecast. No drama equals low ratings.
Posted by: Pat H at August 18, 2004 4:37 PMThey still draw far more viewers than the Democratic convention did.
Posted by: MB at August 18, 2004 5:22 PMTheir coverage is terrible.
I wanted to watch the fencing competition yesterday and all I got was soccer.
Supposedly all these channels and more coverage, BAH!
Posted by: Sandy P at August 18, 2004 6:44 PMThe Internet doesn't "allow" you to know the results--it forces you to, unless you avoid all the news sites for three weeks.
Posted by: jsmith at August 18, 2004 11:47 PMAmerican football, major league baseball, basketball and, to a certain extent, ice hockey are Americans favorite sports. Ice hockey is not played in the Summer Olympics, and American football is not played in either Olympics. Although baseball is considered America's pasttime, Americans don't really care for the sport unless it is the major leagues. Professional basketball players are now found playing in the Olympics, but they pretty much always squash their competition that there is not really any reason to watch them play. I am guessing these are the reasons why ratings for the Olympics are quite low. Americans just can't appreciate a sport unless it is one of their beloved four.
Posted by: Vince at August 20, 2004 3:28 PM