NBC’s primetime coverage of the Tokyo Olympics continued to spiral downward on Monday, averaging 14.7 million viewers for a 49% drop compared to the equivalent night from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. Steinberg quoted a media buying executive who said the early viewership "clearly are not what NBC, our agency or our clients were looking for" from costly investment. NBC presumably hoped its multi-billion dollar investment would pick up as the Games proceeded, but primetime coverage on Saturday and Sunday also was disappointing. Now that a weeknight has also shed significant viewership from recent Olympics, too, NBC could start to panic if things don’t pick up in a hurry. But regardless of the cause of the collapse, Steinberg doesn’t think the advertiser anxiety is going to fade anytime soon unless something changes quickly.

Source: Fox News July 28, 2021 13:50 UTC