By Gary Symons
TLL Editor in Chief
Streaming services have emerged as the clear winner in the Olympic competition for viewers.
With figures out in both the US and Canada, networks covering the 2022 Winter Olympics reported shrinking numbers for viewers on cable, but growth for their streaming services.
It’s a trend that advertising and licensing industries are having to deal with, as the world’s eyeballs have radically shifted away from traditional television and onto the world’s streaming services.
As the Winter Games wrapped up in Beijing, NBC Universal’s reported Nielsen ratings showed the network averaging 11.4 million viewers across all of NBCU’s platforms in primetime. Those are historically low numbers, unprecedented in the history of Olympics coverage.
But digital viewers saw major gains as sports fans logged in to Peacock, NBC Olympics.com, and the NBC Sports app reported an average primetime viewership of 516,000 viewers, up 8% over the Summer Games.
NBCUniversal presented a record 2,800+ hours of Winter Games coverage, and overall, the company says 160 million Americans watched NBC’s Beijing Olympics presentation across all platforms.
“NBCUniversal’s presentation of the Beijing Olympics dominated across all platforms and once again showed that nothing captivates Americans for 18 consecutive days and nights like the Olympic Games,” said Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming.
“The power of the NBC broadcast network delivered large audiences every night, while USA Network registered the best two-week stretch of any sports and entertainment cable network.
“With sharply increased signups, usage and awareness, Peacock streamed every Olympic moment for the first time ever and delivered a user experience that was greatly enhanced from just six months ago,” Lazarus added. “Over the course of the Games, we delivered what was promised to our advertising partners and delivered unmatched promotion for our company.”
The Olympics also played well in America’s northern neighbour, where rights holder CBC revealed that more than 70% of the country’s population engaged with its Olympic coverage.
That amounts to 26.5 million unique viewers, many of whom tuned in to the CBC Gem streaming service.
“For the entirety of Beijing 2022, Canadians spent more time with CBC than any other network in Canada,” said Chris Wilson, Executive Director, Sports and Olympics, CBC. “Day after day, strong and sustained audiences peaking at well over a million tuned in, with half of all viewers spending more than 100 minutes watching each night,” Wilson continued.
“In addition to strong broadcast audiences, digital viewing soared, with Canadians streaming nearly half a billion minutes on CBC’s digital platforms and record time spent on CBC Gem. We’re proud that millions of Canadians united around our coverage from early in the morning to very late at night. Despite everything going on in the world, these numbers represent the enduring appeal and relevance of the Olympics in Canada.”
Numbers like that are expected to drive more licensing and advertising campaigns toward digital streaming and away from traditional cable. On the major streaming services like Netflix and Amazon, major efforts are being made to create consumer products campaigns through integrated e-commerce stores.
Netflix last year built up a large ecosystem for licensing and inked a key deal to sell products through a dedicated e-commerce site, in partnership with Walmart.
Amazon, which already owns the world’s largest e-commerce site, has focused on creating deals that tie programs on its Prime Video platform to CP sales on its e-commerce site.
Younger sites like Peacock and CBC Gem have not yet followed suit, but as streaming rapidly outstrips cable viewership, most streaming services are expected to push more of their advertising and their licensing opportunities to streaming, which is more easily tied to e-commerce.