AVRIL KING
Social Media Manager and
Assistant Sports Editor
Once again, another round of the Winter Olympics has come to a close. But, regardless of the fact that it was the first year the games were aired on broadcast, cable and even streaming, these Olympics were the least watched in modern history.
According to numbers from NBC and NBC Sports, the most popular broadcasters of the Olympics, the competition in PyeongChang gained an average viewership of 19.8 million viewers. This is compared to the Sochi Olympics held in 2014, which got an average viewership of 21.3 million.
This is not entirely surprising. According to CNN, numbers have been down for sports competitions in the last few years, claiming that ratings for both the NFL and the Summer Olympics in Rio had dropped.
The fact of the matter is, though, the Summer Olympics have historically been more popular than the Winter Olympics. Despite the lower ratings, Rio still earned an average of 27.5 million viewers.
The real question is: why?
First off, the decline could be attributed to the greater diversity and options that the Summer Olympics offer.
Individuals enjoy choosing between the 306 medal events in the Summer Olympics, jumping from one sport to the next. This is compared to the Winter Olympics’ 102 medal events, which leaves viewers stuck watching whatever happens to be playing at a particular time.
Jamie Young, a member of Fredonia’s men’s hockey team and senior double major in finance and political science, could see the logic in this argument.
“It always seems like the same sports are constantly being played and featured,” he said. “While I don’t mind watching luge every night of the week, I think many people get bored of that pretty quick, and I think this is where the Summer Olympics really excels; it has a big diversity of events. I always feel like I am watching something new every night during those two weeks of Summer Olympics.”
Bailey Gauthier, a senior sports management major and member of Fredonia’s men’s baseball team, thinks it has to do with personal experiences.
“I think the Winter Olympics just [has] sports that are more recreational to people rather than a competition,” he said. “Not many people have the talent or knowledge about these sports because they aren’t too big, especially in the U.S., in terms of having a high school or college or even professional level. Summer just has more sports that people can relate to.”
Hallie Christopher, senior music industry major and member of the women’s volleyball team agreed, saying people tend to pay attention to sports on the professional level that they themselves are involved in.
“I believe there is a connection between the sports people play and what they watch,” she said. “For me, I am more interested in watching volleyball because I know what hard work goes into each movement and the mental process behind everything as well.”
However, Young saw this differently when looking at professional sports in general.
“I think there is a slight connection [between the sports people play and the sports they watch], but nothing major,” he said. “I know plenty of people who have never really skated much in their life who are still huge hockey fans. And even for myself, I only played football for two seasons growing up, but football is one of my favorite sports to watch.”
He did concede, though, that relatability does play a factor in the Olympics.
“While athletes like Chloe Kim and Adam Rippon are certainly unbelievable athletes and compelling figures, people just have a harder time connecting with them because they have never [been] on ice or been on a halfpipe,” he said.
Of these three athletes, Gauthier and Christopher admitted to not watching the Winter Olympics very much. However, this cannot be attributed entirely to their lack of interest in winter sports, considering Gauthier mentioned he would have watched more if he had cable at his house.
Young, on the other hand, tried to watch “every weeknight or every other night,” as he does “with every Olympics.”
Therefore, viewership of the Winter Olympics in America could be higher if American schools placed less of an emphasis on swimming, track and other sports typically associated with the Summer Olympics.
For now, though, Americans will look forward to the summer of 2020 as their favorite athletes head to Tokyo.