No medals for BBC’S television viewing figures for the Olympics
THE BBC saw its peak television audience drop by more than half during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, with the men’s 100m final watched by just five million viewers after widespread complaints about the corporation’s coverage.
Only 36.4 million tuned in to the Games over the course of the past three weeks, making it the least watched Olympics compared with the previous three.
The blue-riband 100m final was the most watched event but it still drew significantly fewer viewers than Rio’s most popular moment, which saw 11.1 million tune in to see cyclist Jason Kenny claim gold in the keirin.
The total is also a significant drop-off from the 45.24 million who watched the last Olympics in Brazil, which attracted a record television audience for an overseas Games.
It was also marginally down on the 37.5 million people who watched the Beijing Games in 2008 and considerably lower than the 51.9 million who tuned in to at least 15 minutes of the 2012 London Olympics.
The eight-hour time difference in Japan, which meant much of the action took place overnight, can be partly attributed to the fall in numbers, although Tokyo marked the end of the BBC’S long-standing history of wall-towall coverage.
The corporation broadcast a maximum of two live events at one time, compared with the 24 live streams on its television channels during Rio and London, after the American pay-tv giant Discovery secured paneuropean broadcasting rights to every Olympic event.
The reduction in live coverage led to a barrage of criticism about the BBC’S decision to relinquish its automatic hosting rights, which meant many minority sports did not enjoy their rare moment on terrestrial television.
The broadcaster endured daily viewer anger over sports being missed, with Ofcom’s chief executive, Dame Melanie Dawes, calling for a review. In a letter sent last week to Damian Green MP, she stated that the Discovery deal does not need Ofcom consent as the pay-tv operator lacks the exclusive rights. However, the letter adds that the Olympics “are unlikely to be available on public service channels without regulatory intervention. We recommended that the Government consider whether it was now time to update the rules, including whether to change the regime in ways that could strengthen public service media benefits.”
In concrete proof of the growing profile of women’s sport, 4.5 million viewers tuned in to the women’s 100m final, despite there being no British representation in the event. That was only 500,000 down on the men’s 100m final.
A record-breaking 104 million requests were made to watch the action on the BBC iplayer throughout the duration of the competition, highlighting how viewing habits have dramatically shifted from television coverage to online and on-demand.