"World No.1 An Seyoung, Why Ignore Her?"... Outrage Over Olympic Broadcasts [Paris Olympics]

Netizens Criticize 'Ratings-Obsessed' Culture
JTBC to Broadcast Olympics from 2026
Delayed Coverage of An Seyoung Only After Match Ends

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, domestic terrestrial broadcasters have been criticized for broadcasting only a few popular events. On the 28th, an online community, DC Inside Badminton Gallery, posted a statement condemning the "rating-obsessed" approach of the three terrestrial broadcasters for not even airing the live broadcast of the first group round match of An Se-young, the world No. 1 female badminton player.

Domestic terrestrial broadcasters are being criticized for broadcasting only a few popular events at the 2024 Paris Olympics. On the 28th, an online community, DC Inside Badminton Gallery, posted a statement condemning the "ratings-obsessed approach" of the three terrestrial broadcasters for not even airing the live TV broadcast of the first group round match of An Se-young, the world No. 1 female badminton player.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The statement included that "An Se-young is the strongest favorite to win the women's singles badminton event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and this victory would complete her personal Grand Slam, yet she was thoroughly ignored from the very first group round match." At the same time, the three terrestrial broadcasters aired the women's archery team semifinals.

The statement pointed out, "The Korea Communications Commission recommended on the 2nd that KBS, MBC, and SBS, the three terrestrial broadcasters, should not excessively schedule overlapping broadcasts of specific events during the 2024 Paris Olympics and should schedule them sequentially, but this was an ineffective measure." Furthermore, it added, "This once again proves that the Olympic spirit for the three terrestrial broadcasters was 'advertising revenue' based on 'viewership ratings'." It urged, "Please do not discriminate and broadcast the live TV coverage from An Se-young's second group round match onward." Earlier, An Se-young, the world No. 1 female singles badminton player, defeated Bulgaria's Kobiyana Nalbantova 2-0 in the match that day.

Three Broadcasters Crying Over Poor Ratings: "The Olympic Boom Is a Thing of the Past"

The reason the three broadcasters air the same events with only different commentators is obviously due to ratings. The three broadcasters jointly purchased the broadcasting rights for the Olympics at a high cost and offset this by generating revenue through advertising sales.

The reason why the three major broadcasters cover the same event with only different commentators is naturally due to viewership ratings. The three broadcasters jointly purchased the broadcasting rights for the Olympics and other events at a high cost, then offset this by generating revenue through advertising sales. Photo by Yonhap News

However, recent evaluations suggest that Olympic viewership ratings are not as high as before, making it difficult to expect advertising revenue at previous levels. Especially as the three broadcasters focus their coverage on only a few popular events, the opening ceremony's poor ratings have led to assessments that "the Olympic boom is a thing of the past."

According to data from Nielsen Korea on the 28th, the cumulative total viewership rating for the opening ceremony broadcast by the three terrestrial broadcasters from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. the previous day was 3.0%. By channel, KBS 1TV had the highest rating at 1.4%, followed by MBC TV at 1.0%, and SBS TV at 0.6%. This is lower than the viewership ratings for the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony. During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony held in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the ratings for the three terrestrial broadcasters were KBS 1TV at 8.4%, SBS at 4.8%, and MBC at 4.0%, with a combined total of 17.2%. Although factors such as time differences and diversified viewing methods including online video platforms exist, the ratings have dropped to less than one-fifth compared to three years ago.

To make matters worse, this is the last Olympics jointly broadcast by the Korean Pool, consisting of the three terrestrial broadcasters, drawing more attention to ratings and broadcasting methods. The Korean Pool (KP), a joint consultative body of KBS, MBC, and SBS, negotiated major international sports broadcasting rights through a single channel and shared the costs among the three broadcasters.

Although there have been instances where the Korean Pool was broken, such as KBS's exclusive contract for the 1996 AFC Asian Cup, exclusive coverage of the 1998 France World Cup Asian qualifiers, MBC's exclusive contract for Major League Baseball from 2001 to 2004, and SBS's exclusive contract for the 2006 Vancouver Olympics, most contracts were made through the consortium because if the joint negotiation failed, the rights sellers could demand higher prices.

However, JTBC acquired the exclusive Korean broadcasting rights for the Summer and Winter Olympics from 2026 to 2032. At that time, the IOC rejected the proposal from the Korean Pool consortium of KBS, MBC, and SBS and signed a contract with JTBC. Sports Business reported that "the Korean Pool's bid for the broadcasting rights fell short of the IOC's expectations." Although the exact broadcasting rights fee is confidential, it is known to be approximately $963 million (about 1 trillion KRW), similar to the fee for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics broadcasting rights.

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