NBC In Need Of Olympic Boost

Thanks to Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles, the U.S. is on pace to take home the most gold medals at the 2016 Summer Olympics. When it comes to television ratings, however, NBC may have to settle for a bronze, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Although the Rio Games are dominating everything else on television, the performance is significantly below the 2012 Summer Games held in London, according to Nielsen. Through Saturday, Comcast Corp.’s NBC is averaging 27.9 million for the first nine nights, down about 15.5% from the London Olympics, which finished with an average of 33 million viewers. The Games are also off from the 34.2 million viewers the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing averaged.

So far, NBC isn’t delivering the audience it promised advertisers who spent more than $1.2 billion for commercials during the 17-day event. Of particular concern is a roughly 30% drop among viewers age 18-34, a demographic advertisers pay a premium to reach.

The lower-than-expected ratings show that even an institution as big as the Olympics isn’t immune to changing media consumption habits and the abundance of choice viewers have on television and online.

NBC’s ability to promote the Games may have been even more hindered by the bitter U.S. race for president between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

“There were more distractions than usual,” said NBC Sports Group Chairman Mark Lazarus. “The country is so hideously divided I think it took people a little bit of time to get together and rally behind the athletes.”