‘Absurd’ call sees Rio Olympics ratings plummet

CHANNEL 7 has been copping plenty of heat for its coverage of the Rio Olympics, but that’s nowhere near as bad as America’s billion dollar bungle.

Not even Michael Phelps can save NBC’s ratings, it seems.

CHANNEL Seven has been copping heat for its Olympic coverage since the Games started in Rio — but it’s nothing like America’s billion dollar bungle.

Seven’s plentiful ads, awkward live crosses and garish outfits may be drawing complaints, but at least its Australian audience is viewing the bulk of events live.

American broadcaster NBC — which paid a whopping $1.2 billion for the rights — is alienating viewers by showing events on delay in order to screen them during prime time.

Viewers on the US’s West Coast are seeing some events up to three hours after they occur and the early results have been near-catastrophic.

Some American sports media analysts were predicting the largest TV audience numbers in history ahead of the Games. But it’s been the opposite.

The Independent reported NBC’s decision to have a one-hour delay on the opening ceremony saw viewing figures slump to a 20-year low. Only 30 million people — down from 40.7 million in London in 2012 — tuned in to see Michael Phelps lead out the US team.

The USA's Michael Phelps at the opening ceremony.

“The network also managed to enrage viewers with its ‘sexist’ remarks about women sports fans and by cramming four advert breaks into the first 39 minutes,” The Independent’s report read. “It insisted a time-delay does not matter since women don’t care as much about the results, hence the decision to air key events like athletics and swimming one hour later too.”

NBC will point to the increase in consumers choosing to watch via the online streams it provides but many are blaming the time delays for the decrease. The online venom has been fierce — led by Shark Tank’s Chris Sacca who said NBC had “broken the Olympics”.

It used to be just annoying. But now the tape delay plus Twitter has broken the Olympics. Upside: stoked to get to bed early tonight.

— Chris Sacca (@sacca) August 8, 2016

How do I watch the Olympics not on horrible West Coast tape delay when I've already gotten push alerts about the winners

— Doree Shafrir (@doree) August 8, 2016

Excited for the LA Olympics to also be shown on three hour tape delay in LA. 🇺🇸🇺🇸

— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) August 8, 2016

There aren't many things I dislike about the Olympics, but in 2016 we should know if we're watching on delay or if it's actually live

— Dion Fanning (@dionfanning) August 7, 2016

How bad is the tape delay?
The Olympics ended 2 weeks ago.

— andy lassner (@andylassner) August 7, 2016

United is the perfect sponsor for the Olympics on NBC because both are usually working on a 2-hour delay

— Bobby Big Wheel (@BobbyBigWheel) August 6, 2016

#Rio2016 Just staggeringly irritating that - 20 years after the birth of the web - NBC still shows the Olympics with a time delay.

— Gerard Baker (@gerardtbaker) August 5, 2016

The figures haven’t improved since Gisele cat-walked her way down the Maracana. Days one and two were down 30 per cent and 16 per cent on London respectively. The social media saturation of people’s lives has made staying away from results almost impossible and could be a reason they aren’t tuning in.

“What’s the point in watching a race if you already know who won?” asked The Ringer’s Claire McNear, while describing the time delay as “absurd”.

“NBC has managed to create a situation in which the world’s greatest athletic competition is subject to Game of Thrones-esque spoilers.”

NBC is in search of ratings, naturally, and maintains that the decision to air taped events is merely an attempt to bring the games to the bigge$t audience po$$ible. $orry, what wa$ that? Did you $ay $omething?”