Olympic ratings plummet: Will NBC's tragedy happen again in China four years later?

With the official end of the Olympic Games on August 22, an important "report card" for the Rio Olympics has been released recently, that is, the ratings of the entire event. Some people use NBC's plummeting ratings to criticize the decline of traditional television in Olympic live broadcasts, but we also noticed that my country Central Television Channel 5 achieved a 70% audience share in the live broadcast of the women's volleyball final.

Television and the Olympics are such a perfect match, will there be more sweet stories in the future?

NBC (American Broadcasting Corporation) is one of the three major television stations in the United States. It is the oldest television station in the United States and the exclusive Olympic TV broadcaster in the United States. In May 2014, NBC boldly spent $12 billion to win the exclusive broadcasting rights of the Olympic Games in the United States until 2032, believing in the influence of live sports events. On August 8, the data statistics company Nielsen announced NBC's ratings for the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics: the average number of television viewers in the first four days of NBC's live broadcast of the Olympics was 27.3 million, a 29% decrease from the 38.4 million in London during the same period. The decline in the opening ceremony was even more obvious. Compared with London's 40.7 million, Rio only had 26.5 million, 35% less than the previous session. The ratings of prime-time Olympic events fell by 17% compared with the London Olympics four years ago, and the ratings of people aged 18 to 49 also fell by 25%. This is the first time that the ratings of the Summer Olympics have declined since 2000. You know, there is only a one-hour time difference between them, which is by no means a disadvantage compared to London. With such ratings, NBC must be really dumbfounded.

So, does the sharp drop in Olympic TV ratings mean that American audiences are less enthusiastic about the Olympics? The answer is actually no. Since the opening of the Rio Olympics, news about the US team winning gold medals has often occupied the front page or important pages of mainstream media such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. The first family of the United States even recorded a special video to cheer for the US team. In fact, the decline in Olympic ratings is more closely related to the fact that the American people have more choices in media and methods to watch the Olympics, and the time arrangement for watching the events is more flexible.

On the other hand, NBC has achieved completely different results in new media broadcasting. According to NBC data, this Olympics was broadcast live via streaming media for more than 852 minutes, which has exceeded the total live broadcast of the London Olympics and increased by 266% compared with the same period in London.

Yiyuguancha (WeChat ID: yiyuguancha) believes that the change in the way American audiences pay attention to the Olympics is a microcosm of the great changes in mobile Internet media in recent years. Nowadays, the main way for people to obtain information and entertainment is gradually getting rid of reliance on traditional newspapers, magazines and television. Instead, more and more clients on the Internet, especially mobile networks, have become the protagonists. According to the 2015 forecast report of PricewaterhouseCoopers, by 2019, the total revenue of Internet advertising in the United States will exceed the total revenue of TV advertising, reaching 83.9 billion US dollars, and will become the largest media advertising market, and the proportion of mobile Internet advertising in Internet advertising will also increase from 30% in 2015 to 46% in 2019.

China - CCTV monopolizes the Olympic market, satellite TV relies on variety shows to improve its combat effectiveness

There is an 11-hour time difference between Rio and Beijing, which means that the games will be held from 19:30/20:00 Beijing time to 10:30 the next day. This Olympics has 28 major events, 42 sub-events, and 306 gold medals, of which golf and rugby are new events. So in terms of time, this Olympics is more in line with the Chinese audience's habit of watching TV.

As the big brother of Chinese television, CCTV used a combination of traditional platforms and new media to conduct a comprehensive coverage of the Olympic Games. On traditional platforms, CCTV used four channels to broadcast the events: the General Channel (CCTV-1), the Finance Channel (CCTV-2), the Sports Channel (CCTV-5) and the Sports Events Channel (CCTV-5+). In terms of new media, CCTV launched a "combination punch" - in addition to CNTV's full broadcast of the Rio Olympics, CCTV Sports Channel independently developed the CCTV-5 client and created "one micro, one cloud, one platform" to form an all-media coverage matrix.

Judging from the ratings of the opening ceremony alone, CCTV's comprehensive, news, sports, and high-definition event channels broadcast the opening ceremony, with a total national network ratings of 2.71%, a viewership share of 29.9%, and a ratings of 4.56% in 35 central cities, with a viewership share of 43.47%.

2016 Rio Olympics Opening Ceremony Viewership and Market Share

As shown in the table, Yiyuguancha (WeChat ID: yiyuguancha) found that among all CCTV channels, CCTV-5 is the channel with the greatest influence. In fact, during this year's Olympic Games, CCTV-5 reached a strategic cooperation with Weibo. According to CCTV Sofres' research, every 1% increase in the volume of related Weibo discussions can drive the reach of TV programs to increase by 0.248%, and the ratings will increase by 0.1%. Such data fully reflects that TV types such as sports, which have clear classifications and full focus functions, are loved and closely followed by domestic audiences, especially gymnastics, diving, table tennis, badminton, volleyball and other traditional Chinese advantage projects. Among them, the most outstanding performance was the live broadcast of the championship battle between the Chinese women's volleyball team and the Serbian women's volleyball team on August 21. CCTV-1 and CCTV-5 broadcast it simultaneously. In the end, CCTV-5's ratings reached 56.68%, and CCTV-1's ratings reached 14.41%.

(Data source: CCTV Sofres)

That means the single-game ratings of the women's volleyball final exceeded 70%. It should be noted that the ratings of the multi-screen live broadcast of the 2016 Spring Festival Gala were only 30.98%, and the ratings of the women's volleyball final were twice that of the Spring Festival Gala. Some netizens said: "The women's volleyball match is the only one that the whole family, young and old, supports with high expectations." It can be seen that the 70% ratings of the Chinese women's volleyball team were achieved in this way.

At the same time, CCTV's Olympic broadcast has a huge impact on provincial satellite TV stations. Originally, the summer season was a good time for major satellite TV stations to show their talents, and high-quality dramas and variety shows were concentrated in this period. However, in front of the national-level Olympic Games, satellite TV variety shows are like "appetizers", and even phenomenal programs will be greatly reduced in momentum. During the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, CCTV's audience share was as high as 52.19%, and the audience's viewing time also surged from 54 minutes a day to 99 minutes a day; during the 2012 London Olympic Games, CCTV's all-day market share rose from 24% to 35%, especially CCTV-5's audience share was 10.2%, an increase of 591% over the market share before the Olympic Games. During this year's Rio Olympic Games, CCTV-5's audience share was still able to stabilize at 10.4%, with the highest single-day audience share reaching 14.8%, and the highest single-week share reaching 13.0%, both of which set historical records.

(Data source: CCTV Sofres)

Unlike the United States, watching the Olympics on television is still a nationwide viewing habit in China. At a time when TV series and variety shows have moved to the Internet, the Olympics may be the last stronghold for Chinese TV people. This may be related to the long-standing Olympic complex of Chinese audiences. On the stage of competitive sports, the Chinese can stand first in the world, which makes us, who have long lagged behind developed countries, feel excited and proud. The Olympic viewing habits and complex exist and have been "inherited" by today's young, middle-aged and elderly people.

But the Olympics are held every four years. Can CCTV-5 maintain its 10% market share in the next four years? Will the tragedy of NBC repeat itself? After all, there will be fewer and fewer events like the women's volleyball match that the whole family can watch. After all, the broadcasting rights of professional leagues such as the Chinese Super League, the English Premier League, and the NBA have been won by LeTV, New England, Tencent, etc. in China. The audience is also shifting to and rooting on these platforms. When the habit becomes more deeply rooted, I am afraid that the last bit of glory of Chinese TV people will retreat by the time of the Tokyo Olympics.

In 2020, what can we use to retain viewers in front of the TV?

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.