The real risk for American broadcasters is not that dissent will be visible. It is that audiences will start assuming anything they do not show is being hidden
What’s more likely: the host country watched 50% less Olympics than two English speaking countries, and watched 3x as much Olympics as the US? Or is it more likely that Americans are using other English nations broadcasts to watch the Olympics rather than watching their home country broadcast?
The viewership of the Olympics in the US should be pretty much in line with the Superbowl, 120+ million viewers, since 1 the superbowl is a single sport, and 2. more people care globally about the Olympics than any other sport. So the US is “missing” almost 100 million US viewers of the Olympics.
More than 40% of the US adult population had planned on watching those Olympics (it’s actually more than 60% but I made sure to err towards the group that said “likely to watch” rather than the 30% that said they “will not watch”), 80% of the US is adults, that’s 108 million people.
Which is why you shouldn’t have started this thread with your meaningless anecdote. Doesn’t matter what the statistics are, you haven’t proven what you said “no one watches the Olympics but even if they do, they use VPN” which is an absurd/impossible claim to begin with.
You see, the thing is you did not and cannot prove “no one” is doing something that common sense and anecdotes tells me isn’t true. Hell, just people flipping channels on traditional cable or using an antenna and accidentally finding the Olympics on NBC that way would undoubtedly number in the thousands.
Anecdotes aren’t evidence.
7 in 10 “Canadians” watched the 2024 Olympics. https://mediaincanada.com/2024/08/13/record-breaking-digital-audiences-for-cbc-olympic-coverage/
6 in 10 “Brits” watched the Olympics https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/articles/c86l33xy7x0o
35% of the French population watched. That was the HOST country! https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2024/08/06/whether-viewership-or-terabits-the-paris-olympic-games-are-breaking-records_6710415_19.html
Less than 1 in 11 Americans watched the Olympics https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradadgate/2024/08/13/the-paris-olympics-averaged-306-million-viewers-across-nbcu-platforms/
Even though Americans watch vastly more television. https://www.admtv.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/2024_egta_gtvg_tv_consumption-Final.pdf and sports.
124 million Americans watched the Super Bowl https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2024/super-bowl-lviii-draws-123-7-million-average-viewers-largest-tv-audience-on-record/
What’s more likely: the host country watched 50% less Olympics than two English speaking countries, and watched 3x as much Olympics as the US? Or is it more likely that Americans are using other English nations broadcasts to watch the Olympics rather than watching their home country broadcast?
The viewership of the Olympics in the US should be pretty much in line with the Superbowl, 120+ million viewers, since 1 the superbowl is a single sport, and 2. more people care globally about the Olympics than any other sport. So the US is “missing” almost 100 million US viewers of the Olympics.
More than 40% of the US adult population had planned on watching those Olympics (it’s actually more than 60% but I made sure to err towards the group that said “likely to watch” rather than the 30% that said they “will not watch”), 80% of the US is adults, that’s 108 million people.
https://news.gallup.com/file/poll/647774/240725Olympics.pdf
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/AGE295224#AGE295224
Literally every statistic points to the fact that Americans use VPNs to watch the Olympics abroad more than they watch the home broadcast.
Which is why you shouldn’t have started this thread with your meaningless anecdote. Doesn’t matter what the statistics are, you haven’t proven what you said “no one watches the Olympics but even if they do, they use VPN” which is an absurd/impossible claim to begin with.
Which I literally covered in my first comment: “I know these are anecdotes, but I’ve seen stats…”.
I just wasn’t willing to put in the work proving anyone wrong until you so kindly decided to say something demonstrably false, using only an anecdote.
You see, the thing is you did not and cannot prove “no one” is doing something that common sense and anecdotes tells me isn’t true. Hell, just people flipping channels on traditional cable or using an antenna and accidentally finding the Olympics on NBC that way would undoubtedly number in the thousands.
Please do quote me where I said “no one”. You are the one that put those words in my mouth.