Headed Back to Europe (Finally!)

After three straight Olympics in Asia, I'm ready for them to go somewhere else.  I don't think I'm the only one, either.  Those three countries, while they're close to each other, aren't exactly an easy trip for the rest of the world.  Especially for all those officials and media members who went to Tokyo and Beijing basically back-to-back.

Now, don't get me wrong.  There were some benefits to the Olympics being in Asia.  It was cool that the time difference allowed for there to be live action during primetime hours in the U.S. and going all night long, with the last events taking place at wake-up time.  Although, that all-night schedule, as awesome as it was, made for many a night where there wasn't too much sleep to be had!

It was also odd for it to be the middle of the day and have everything be finished.  The U.S. is literally (at least) half a day behind the Far East, which led to the ultra-confusing opening of every primetime show "it's Saturday morning in Beijing, Friday night back home."  The new day was starting while we were stuck in the past.

Another wonderful feature of the Asian Olympics is the quirky scheduling that saw NBC counterprogramming itself during the Opening Ceremony.  They showed the Opening Ceremony live at 6:30 am, then again in primetime...while they had live event coverage on USA!  Then there's the final daytime show on Sunday afternoon...which takes place after the Closing Ceremony will have already happened (which was also the case in PyeongChang and Tokyo).

Of course, NBC's ratings are a frequent target of those who try to use them as some sort of proof that "no one" watches the Olympics anymore.  (These are the same people who say that about all forms of regular TV because "everybody" is streaming now.)  What they fail to mention in those stories, though, is that, even though ratings are down and, yes, disappointing, NBC's Olympic broadcasts were still the most-watched program of the night throughout the Games.

Meanwhile, you also had NBC actively encouraging people to go other places to watch Olympic content if they wanted.  They had live events on three different channels (NBC, USA, CNBC) at the same time, as well as everything streaming on Peacock.  You don't think they were tracking the numbers of how many people were watching there, as well? 

If you combine the viewership of the network, cable and streaming, it's probably about what they were expecting.  In fact, USA has been the most-watched basic cable channel since the start of the Olympics.  Why is that?  Might the 24-hour Olympic coverage have had anything to do with that?  Plus, they don't track overnight viewership numbers, so who's to say how many people were watching USA in the wee hours of the morning so that they could watch an event live?

Besides, Winter Olympic ratings are always lower simply because of when they take place.  They're in the middle of freakin' February, when people are busy with their lives!  Not only that, you've got the college basketball and NBA regular seasons, and the NHL kept going, too.  There was also an important football game that aired on NBC, causing them to adjust their Olympic schedule on the middle Sunday.  The ratings indicate that 70 percent of the country watched one or both events on Super Gold Sunday.

Then you throw in the weird time zone and the fact that the U.S. isn't as successful in the Winter Olympics anyway, and it really shouldn't be a surprise.  And maybe people didn't watch in primetime because they watched live in the morning and didn't need to see it again.  Or they were protesting because the Olympics were in China, so they decided not to watch because of that.

My point is: ratings for everything are down across the board, so the Olympic ratings being lower aren't as much of an indicator of anything as the critics would like them to be.  It's more a sign that people aren't just watching on NBC anymore.  They have numerous viewing options, and they're taking advantage of them.

Those numerous viewing options will be used once again two and a half years from now in Paris, when the Olympics return to Europe for the first time in a decade.  And, I must say, I'm looking forward to a break from the late nights and early mornings that come with an Olympics in Asia.  Instead, we've got the very friendly European time zone, where stuff will still start kinda early (probably 3-4 am Eastern), but, instead of all night, will go all afternoon, ending around 6 or 7 pm.

Live coverage during prime time in the U.S. is, of course, impossible from Europe (that, by the way, is why London will never get a Super Bowl, as much as they might want one).  There will, however, be live coverage in the morning and afternoon throughout the Olympics.  It won't be relegated to the overnight hours only.  Which, frankly, will be a refreshing change.  And that applies to the next two Olympics.  First Paris, then Milan. 

There's something about watching an event from Europe that's just so familiar and comfortable.  Every week people get up on Saturday morning to watch the EPL, and the weeknight Champions League games are at 3:00 in the afternoon here.  Then, of course, there's the French Open, Wimbledon, the British Open, the Tour de France, and any other European-based event Americans watch regularly.

I'm curious to see what type of changes NBC has to make to its broadcasts (the Opening Ceremony will be at 3 pm, not 7 am, and I'm very curious to see how different the "Prime Plus" show will be without any live events to show) for these next two European-based Games.  But, after three straight Olympics in Asia, it'll be a nice change of pace to be in Europe.  For everybody.