[Olympics] Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony Draws Low Viewership... Japanese Sponsor Companies Also Disappointed

On the afternoon of the 4th, the South Korean delegation entered the National Stadium in Beijing, China, during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

The number of viewers in the United States for the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which began on the 4th, has been confirmed to have significantly decreased.

According to foreign media on the 6th, NBC, the exclusive Olympic broadcaster in the U.S., recorded 14 million viewers. Even when combining viewers across NBC's media platforms, the total was only 16 million.

This figure is similar to the 16.7 million viewers for the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics last year. However, it represents a 43% sharp decline compared to the 28.3 million viewers of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

An official from Inside the Games stated that the opening ceremony was held at 8 PM Beijing time (9 PM Korean time), which corresponds to 7 AM Eastern Time and 4 AM Pacific Time in the U.S., likely causing the sharp drop in viewership.

However, the Pyeongchang Olympic opening ceremony was held earlier at 8 PM (6 AM Eastern Time, 3 AM Pacific Time). NBC broadcast the opening ceremony on a delayed basis during the U.S. evening prime time slot.

Meanwhile, the diplomatic boycott by Western countries including the U.S., who did not send government delegations to this Olympics citing China's human rights situation, is also considered a factor behind the sharp decline in viewership. According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei), major Japanese corporations such as Toyota Motor, Panasonic, and Bridgestone, which are worldwide Olympic partner sponsors, did not air any TV commercials featuring related logos. Nikkei reported that these companies are concerned that using the Beijing Olympics, which the U.S. and others diplomatically boycotted due to issues like the Xinjiang Uyghur human rights situation, in their marketing could backfire.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.