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Why are TV audiences tuning out of Tokyo Olympics?

Why are TV audiences tuning out of Tokyo Olympics?

The opening ceremony drew 16.9 million U.S. TV viewers

the smallest audience for the event in the past 33 years

Source: NBCUniversal

26.5 million people watched the Rio de Janeiro Games opener in 2016

40.7 million people watched the London ceremony in 2012

Viewership has also declined across Europe

What is causing this downward trend?

1// Viewing has become more fragmented across different platforms and devices

2// Athletes compete in Japan when viewers are mostly asleep in the U.S. and Europe

But TV viewership is up in Australia and Japan

More than 70 million people watched the opening ceremony in Japan

making it the most watched event in the last 10 years

Source: Yiannis Exarchos, CEO of Olympic Broadcasting Services