Closing Ceremony ratings off 45 percent from London

The Rio Olympics Opening and Closing ceremonies were a conscious downgrade from the epic spectacle of ceremonies past, and on Sunday night, the Olympics closed not with a bang, but a ratings whimper.

Nielsen overnight ratings indicate that the Closing Ceremony averaged an 11.7 rating during the period between 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. ET, down 31 percent from the same event in London. Nielsen’s FastAffiliate metric indicated that 16.9 million viewers watched the Closing Ceremony, a 45 percent drop from London.

NBC announced that its Olympics averaged 27.5 million viewers through its Total Audience Delivery statistic, which accounts for both television and streaming numbers. The London Olympics, by contrast, averaged 31.1 million viewers for both competition and Opening and Closing ceremonies combined.

The question of whether NBC will be able to satisfy promises made to advertisers is some inside baseball that doesn’t really concern the average viewer. What will be more fascinating to see is whether NBC adjusts its TV-first strategy going forward. NBC holds the contract to broadcast every Olympics through 2032, and Rio provided a stark indicator that reaching a large segment of a fragmented, demographically diverse American audience is more challenging than ever.

There are plenty of potential targets for blame, from millennials’ lack of interest in the Olympics to NBC’s decision to time-shift and delay live broadcasts of many key events and moments. And while every side can spin the Rio ratings to fit whatever narrative they wish (for instance, even in an “off” ratings year the Olympics demolished all competition), what’s inescapable is that the broadcast and viewing conditions that vaulted the Olympics to unprecedented ratings heights in past years no longer necessarily apply in the age of streaming and Snapchat.