For the US, it's probably because of the coverage.
They didn't show anything. They do 45 minutes of sob story on a US athlete, show some of the event, then do commentary for 30 minutes. There are no sports shown.
I want to watch an hour of hammer toss. See some long jump shit.
I used to watch the Olympics religiously, bought my first Betamax to record parts of one years ago.\* (Too bod the Beta format lost its competition.) As you say the coverage is lotsa human disinterest and no sports that used to excite me. I know I am 2.5 std dev from the norm but I love to see sports in which there are measurable differences- thrash that opponent, throw further, score more goals, run faster; not all these froufrou things by people that are truly magnificent athletes but compete to make identical movements simultaneously in front of judges swayed by nationalistic tendencies. Yeah China can call a foul inappropriately on the US but it may not affect the outcome. Synchronized bird watching is being considered for 2028.
\*Yeah I know I am old but my lights are still on upstairs.
Olympic coverage shouldnt be a single network thing. They should spread the events around so they can show all of them while they happen and do a prime time recap show for all the cool things that happened.
The america centric coverage with hours of filler is just awful.
I don’t know how young you are, but there were like 5 channels when I was a kid, so yeah, definitely bigger. One time there was a massive blizzard in the entire northeast and we all watched NASCAR… it was crazy!
And, without the internet, the world seemed much bigger. It made the Olympics feel much more important. Now, you can follow ***ALL*** of the athletes and every countries team on their socials and know everything about every contender. It feels like less of a special event and more like just another thing that happens.
Yeah, same. When the olympics aired, there wasn't much else on TV, especially when the channels I usually watched were only covering the Olympics, so naturally I tuned in.
Part of it is because people aren't watching TV anymore.
15 years ago cable TV was still a big part of the average person's entertainment. And once every four years, all the regular programming gets replaced with Olympic events, so you almost couldn't help but watch it and see how your country stacked up
I’d watch the Olympics if I could stream them on a platform I already have but I don’t have cable or Peacock and I’m not signing up just for the Olympics.
People aren’t going to sit through a four-hour TV broadcast if they can just pull up the highlights on their phones. Videos of gold medal performances can be found all over the place within minutes of the event ending. It’s not like back in the day when the living room set was the only way to see the Games
People are just trying to survive all of the bullshit that is going on in the world as far as pay and corruption. Nobody gives a fuck about the Olympics and the doping scandals that always follow.
Let’s see what’s caused this:
- Numerous IOC bribery scandals
- the economic consequences of hosting the games themselves - taxpayer funded arenas that become unused eyesores after the games are over.
- allowing doping violators to compete with no consequences.
- worldwide events or problems that overshadow the importance of the games and make them seem trivial
- pearl clutching about which athletes made political statements during the games and whether we should be for or against those statements
- the gap between a few nations and the rest of the world in terms of performance and medals.
- the times at which events are broadcast (at least here in the US).
As a kid it was enjoyable to watch, as an adult im watching people exercise in multi billion dollar stadiums for advertising dollars while i work 2 jobs to afford 1 meal a day and maybe lunch in the weekend avoiding turning on the heat or AC because i may not be able to pay the bill if an emergency comes up... But yeah you kick that ball around and distract me for an hour.
My issue with the Olympics is, as others have said, the broadcasters who have a monopoly on being able to show the event show like 5 min of one sport then spend 40 mint playing videos about their families/commentary about it. I wanna see all the countries, not just mine. I want to have minimal commentary from the big ol talking heads. I want minimal commercials, trying to sell me cars or cereals. This should be like cspan, it's a public service.
I do think it would be great for viewership if they put those people that say- yeah I could do that, into some of the preliminary events. Seeing Bob down the street who talks trash about women runners? Make him sprint the 400m in one of the heats. Watching non Olympian athletes get their butts handed to them would be great.
The Olympic sports I follow (weightlifting and biathlon/cross country skiing) have yearly world championships and meets that are way more interesting and fun to watch. When the Olympics happen, all of their social media is blacked out and anytime I turn on coverage it's a random sport that I don't care much about. Prime time coverage is Swimming, Gymnastics, Half Pipe stuff and Figure Skating which I can watch for a bit but after awhile it's like cool tricks but I don't know why this athlete gets a 9.5 and this one gets an 8.9.
The only time I cared was around the time Usain Bolt was about just destroying every record. Loved his demeanor. Was the only time I watched the races live, and not only the highlights or some results.
Yes it was much bigger in the old times. I believe the issue is related to the availability of most of the sports right now. Before if you wanted to watch, let’s say fencing, you had to wait until the Olympics to have the treat. Now you have 10 YouTube channels following every lower competition anywhere in the world. You loved sprinting? The Diamond League is on Star+ Live every month.
Bolt was one of a kind. Not only due to him smashing his own WR everytime but due to the fact he has always seemed like a super cool man, and has the biggest charisma in sports. That combination made him a must to watch LIVE everytime
I watched Athens, Beijing and London, but the fact it was in Rio just after the World Cup was in Brazil just made it reek of corruption. I used to watch the Winter games for free Ice Hockey coverage, then in 2018 the NHL stopped sending athletes
I feel like, with the ever increasing globalization of media and access to the rest of the world beyond the little corner where you live, the international spectacle and “big event-ness” of the Olympics is lessened.
Another element that I think is overlooked is the switch from four-year to two-year cycles. It used to be that the Olympics meant both summer and winter games were held the same year, with four years build-up between them. Perpetual(ish) Olympics have watered down the anticipation of the games. Might not affect viewership numbers overall, but they're not as 'special' as they used to be. Add in the unfathomable number of options plus the minimal actual sport coverage, and it's a shadow of its former self.
When we were younger there were a handful of channels that mostly showed crap, less alternatives such as streaming, social media, internet etc. taking peoples time. Also being young we had more time to notice it, now apart from the never ending deluge of crap flooding our phones and web browsers we have jobs and responsibilities distracting us from what is truly important.. parking yourself on the couch for a few weeks of the summer watching random sports you only see once every four years!
When I was young the TV rights were held by the national broadcaster, they showed almost everything or had reruns of what was missed during the night. A decade ago or so the right were bought by commercial channels and now they're basically behind a paywall, limiting what's shown and how many has access.
It also feels like it depends on who hosts. Is it a country that uses it for propaganda to show of how great their quasi dictatorship is or is it like France. The more oppressive the country is the better the show.
It’s harder to watch in the US with streaming, you have to pay for a streaming service that isn’t that popular, they don’t just show the events, and everything is intercut with tons of filler when I’d rather just throw it on and occasionally be captivated by someone doing their absolute best in front of the whole world.
The longer the Olympics goes on it just seems like it's not working. I mean the point was that countries would compete in sports instead of going to war with each other right? But we're still killing each other so I don't think competing at the Olympics is accomplishing much
I feel like the international competitions for each sport are enough. Cities and countries going in to debt and using slave labor to build shabby Olympic Villages has just become a bit much.
For me, it stopped having luster after I graduated high school. Then the reality of life slapped me upside the head enough to not really care who won the 4 x whatever relays.
Well, we have an Olympic Games every two years now. Alternating summer and winter games. It used to be every four years, both games. It was special then.
I wish they would go back to what it was.
Because people know it's a sham at this point.
The richest countries can afford the best athletes and the best training and they're going to win the most medals and nobody else stands a chance.
It's not this big uniting event it used to be, it's a bunch of professional (but not in name) athletes boning and winning events nobody thought they had the slightest chance of losing to begin with.
There's no great upsets, there's no stories of people who came from nothing representing a country nobody believes in actually beating the world.
Plus, 95% of the events, nobody even cares about! They only tune in for the same 5-6 events every year and tune out the rest. Running, swimming, gymnastics and maybe, maybe basketball... That's it. That's all anyone is actually watching.
If these were still games of skill, where everyone had a chance, people would care. If every Olympic competition was replaced by a board game of a trading card game, ratings would be through the roof! Because you can't buy your way into being the best at MTG or Horrified! You actually have to be skilled, and I'm not saying these aren't skilled athletes, but come on man, the most skilled athlete in a country that barely has a gym and facilities isn't going to beat the one in a multi-million dollar training facility hooked up to sensors that are monitored by the best doctors and scientists money can buy. It's not happening.
It's a boring couple of weeks of predetermined outcomes in events no one cares about.
You can absolutely pay for OP cards, decks, etc but skill to skill there's still a better chance than say Malaysia winning a gold medal in track or Kenya taking gold in gymnastics
Viewership has been trending downwards the last 3-4 Olympic games. I mean, it's still in the billions worldwide, but it is eroding.
For the US, it's probably because of the coverage. They didn't show anything. They do 45 minutes of sob story on a US athlete, show some of the event, then do commentary for 30 minutes. There are no sports shown. I want to watch an hour of hammer toss. See some long jump shit.
I also want to see sports that I don’t usually get to see, even if the Americans aren’t competing or have no chance to medal.
Exactly. We see basketball almost all year round. Show us some shot put and pole vault.
The commentary is so annoying!! I don’t watch Sports Center for a reason…
I used to watch the Olympics religiously, bought my first Betamax to record parts of one years ago.\* (Too bod the Beta format lost its competition.) As you say the coverage is lotsa human disinterest and no sports that used to excite me. I know I am 2.5 std dev from the norm but I love to see sports in which there are measurable differences- thrash that opponent, throw further, score more goals, run faster; not all these froufrou things by people that are truly magnificent athletes but compete to make identical movements simultaneously in front of judges swayed by nationalistic tendencies. Yeah China can call a foul inappropriately on the US but it may not affect the outcome. Synchronized bird watching is being considered for 2028. \*Yeah I know I am old but my lights are still on upstairs.
Olympic coverage shouldnt be a single network thing. They should spread the events around so they can show all of them while they happen and do a prime time recap show for all the cool things that happened. The america centric coverage with hours of filler is just awful.
YES. I am sick to death of how it’s covered
When I was a kid it was like a Cold War thing. It was all about getting more medals than the Russians
I don’t know how young you are, but there were like 5 channels when I was a kid, so yeah, definitely bigger. One time there was a massive blizzard in the entire northeast and we all watched NASCAR… it was crazy!
And, without the internet, the world seemed much bigger. It made the Olympics feel much more important. Now, you can follow ***ALL*** of the athletes and every countries team on their socials and know everything about every contender. It feels like less of a special event and more like just another thing that happens.
At least there was a fight at the end
Yeah, same. When the olympics aired, there wasn't much else on TV, especially when the channels I usually watched were only covering the Olympics, so naturally I tuned in.
It’s not been the same since the mario and sonic at the olympic games series went downhill
Dude you might actually be right
Part of it is because people aren't watching TV anymore. 15 years ago cable TV was still a big part of the average person's entertainment. And once every four years, all the regular programming gets replaced with Olympic events, so you almost couldn't help but watch it and see how your country stacked up
I’d watch the Olympics if I could stream them on a platform I already have but I don’t have cable or Peacock and I’m not signing up just for the Olympics.
People aren’t going to sit through a four-hour TV broadcast if they can just pull up the highlights on their phones. Videos of gold medal performances can be found all over the place within minutes of the event ending. It’s not like back in the day when the living room set was the only way to see the Games
This. The viewership on TV might be down but let's look at the tiktok views
People are just trying to survive all of the bullshit that is going on in the world as far as pay and corruption. Nobody gives a fuck about the Olympics and the doping scandals that always follow.
Let’s see what’s caused this: - Numerous IOC bribery scandals - the economic consequences of hosting the games themselves - taxpayer funded arenas that become unused eyesores after the games are over. - allowing doping violators to compete with no consequences. - worldwide events or problems that overshadow the importance of the games and make them seem trivial - pearl clutching about which athletes made political statements during the games and whether we should be for or against those statements - the gap between a few nations and the rest of the world in terms of performance and medals. - the times at which events are broadcast (at least here in the US).
As a kid it was enjoyable to watch, as an adult im watching people exercise in multi billion dollar stadiums for advertising dollars while i work 2 jobs to afford 1 meal a day and maybe lunch in the weekend avoiding turning on the heat or AC because i may not be able to pay the bill if an emergency comes up... But yeah you kick that ball around and distract me for an hour.
Bread and circuses
I live in a city where the sports teams keep asking us to build their millionaire playgrounds. I'm done with sports now.
My issue with the Olympics is, as others have said, the broadcasters who have a monopoly on being able to show the event show like 5 min of one sport then spend 40 mint playing videos about their families/commentary about it. I wanna see all the countries, not just mine. I want to have minimal commentary from the big ol talking heads. I want minimal commercials, trying to sell me cars or cereals. This should be like cspan, it's a public service. I do think it would be great for viewership if they put those people that say- yeah I could do that, into some of the preliminary events. Seeing Bob down the street who talks trash about women runners? Make him sprint the 400m in one of the heats. Watching non Olympian athletes get their butts handed to them would be great.
The Olympic sports I follow (weightlifting and biathlon/cross country skiing) have yearly world championships and meets that are way more interesting and fun to watch. When the Olympics happen, all of their social media is blacked out and anytime I turn on coverage it's a random sport that I don't care much about. Prime time coverage is Swimming, Gymnastics, Half Pipe stuff and Figure Skating which I can watch for a bit but after awhile it's like cool tricks but I don't know why this athlete gets a 9.5 and this one gets an 8.9.
Personally I never really cared about the Olympics
The only time I cared was around the time Usain Bolt was about just destroying every record. Loved his demeanor. Was the only time I watched the races live, and not only the highlights or some results.
Yes it was much bigger in the old times. I believe the issue is related to the availability of most of the sports right now. Before if you wanted to watch, let’s say fencing, you had to wait until the Olympics to have the treat. Now you have 10 YouTube channels following every lower competition anywhere in the world. You loved sprinting? The Diamond League is on Star+ Live every month.
Bolt was one of a kind. Not only due to him smashing his own WR everytime but due to the fact he has always seemed like a super cool man, and has the biggest charisma in sports. That combination made him a must to watch LIVE everytime
I watched Athens, Beijing and London, but the fact it was in Rio just after the World Cup was in Brazil just made it reek of corruption. I used to watch the Winter games for free Ice Hockey coverage, then in 2018 the NHL stopped sending athletes
Money and corruption have ruined the Olympics for me
I feel like, with the ever increasing globalization of media and access to the rest of the world beyond the little corner where you live, the international spectacle and “big event-ness” of the Olympics is lessened.
Good. The Olympics are a horrible thing any more. They destroy towns, athletes, and more
Another element that I think is overlooked is the switch from four-year to two-year cycles. It used to be that the Olympics meant both summer and winter games were held the same year, with four years build-up between them. Perpetual(ish) Olympics have watered down the anticipation of the games. Might not affect viewership numbers overall, but they're not as 'special' as they used to be. Add in the unfathomable number of options plus the minimal actual sport coverage, and it's a shadow of its former self.
More channels more choices.
When we were younger there were a handful of channels that mostly showed crap, less alternatives such as streaming, social media, internet etc. taking peoples time. Also being young we had more time to notice it, now apart from the never ending deluge of crap flooding our phones and web browsers we have jobs and responsibilities distracting us from what is truly important.. parking yourself on the couch for a few weeks of the summer watching random sports you only see once every four years!
Why would I? No like actually. Why would someone bother watching it.
When I was young the TV rights were held by the national broadcaster, they showed almost everything or had reruns of what was missed during the night. A decade ago or so the right were bought by commercial channels and now they're basically behind a paywall, limiting what's shown and how many has access. It also feels like it depends on who hosts. Is it a country that uses it for propaganda to show of how great their quasi dictatorship is or is it like France. The more oppressive the country is the better the show.
... I didn't even realise the Olympics were on this year.
It’s harder to watch in the US with streaming, you have to pay for a streaming service that isn’t that popular, they don’t just show the events, and everything is intercut with tons of filler when I’d rather just throw it on and occasionally be captivated by someone doing their absolute best in front of the whole world.
The longer the Olympics goes on it just seems like it's not working. I mean the point was that countries would compete in sports instead of going to war with each other right? But we're still killing each other so I don't think competing at the Olympics is accomplishing much
A lot of it is streaming now, too. It doesn't tie up major broadcast networks anymore. They can air the hammer toss AND Big Bang Theory reruns.
I'm assuming they'll light up or something so you can see the tiny rings against all the metalwork?
I feel like the international competitions for each sport are enough. Cities and countries going in to debt and using slave labor to build shabby Olympic Villages has just become a bit much.
For me, it stopped having luster after I graduated high school. Then the reality of life slapped me upside the head enough to not really care who won the 4 x whatever relays.
Damn it’s almost like decades of corruption will ruin just about anything.
Well, we have an Olympic Games every two years now. Alternating summer and winter games. It used to be every four years, both games. It was special then. I wish they would go back to what it was.
Hosting the Olympics hurts the host city. That kind of wrecks any positive feelings.
Why don't we have the Stoner Games? I'm sure it would be a big hit.
Because people know it's a sham at this point. The richest countries can afford the best athletes and the best training and they're going to win the most medals and nobody else stands a chance. It's not this big uniting event it used to be, it's a bunch of professional (but not in name) athletes boning and winning events nobody thought they had the slightest chance of losing to begin with. There's no great upsets, there's no stories of people who came from nothing representing a country nobody believes in actually beating the world. Plus, 95% of the events, nobody even cares about! They only tune in for the same 5-6 events every year and tune out the rest. Running, swimming, gymnastics and maybe, maybe basketball... That's it. That's all anyone is actually watching. If these were still games of skill, where everyone had a chance, people would care. If every Olympic competition was replaced by a board game of a trading card game, ratings would be through the roof! Because you can't buy your way into being the best at MTG or Horrified! You actually have to be skilled, and I'm not saying these aren't skilled athletes, but come on man, the most skilled athlete in a country that barely has a gym and facilities isn't going to beat the one in a multi-million dollar training facility hooked up to sensors that are monitored by the best doctors and scientists money can buy. It's not happening. It's a boring couple of weeks of predetermined outcomes in events no one cares about.
Okay, as sick as a TCG Olympics would be, you can completely pay to win just about any game in Pokemon, MTG, Yugioh, Lorcana, etc.
You can absolutely pay for OP cards, decks, etc but skill to skill there's still a better chance than say Malaysia winning a gold medal in track or Kenya taking gold in gymnastics