"I grew up loving the Olympics more than any other televised event. Like others my age, Austrian skier Franz Klammer occupies a permanent corner of my sports memory. The USA hockey team's defeat of the Soviet Union during the Cold War was astonishing to watch, even on tape delay in 1980 (people forget the failed spoiler alert!) And yes, I am fluent in the Hamill camel. The Olympics were not just sports. They were a shared national ritual. That ritual feels weaker now."
"The ratings are not collapsing. They are surging. NBC's opening ceremony drew more than 21 million viewers, up sharply from 2022, and prime time is posting its strongest Winter numbers in more than a decade. By traditional metrics, the Games are thriving. But ratings measure reach, not resonance. The Olympics once thrived on simultaneity. Millions watched the same edited prime-time broadcast and experienced the same crescendo together. The next morning, the country talked about the same moments. That structure created cultural weight."
Watching habits have shifted from collective, simultaneous prime-time viewing to fragmented consumption across live streams and social platforms. Winter Olympics ratings have surged, with NBC's opening ceremony drawing over 21 million viewers and prime time posting the strongest Winter numbers in more than a decade. Ratings measure reach, not cultural resonance. Live streaming on Peacock and algorithmic feeds on TikTok, Instagram, X, and Facebook reduce urgency for shared moments. Viral clips across multiple platforms can recreate collective attention, but that togetherness differs from mass simultaneous viewing. NBC protects its multibillion-dollar rights by streaming events live and tightly producing prime-time narratives.
Read at www.mediaite.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]