NBC confronts 'difficult' Olympics ratings amid China's 'complicated' relationship with rest of the world

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NBC executives are not concerned about the low viewership that the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics has brought, and instead are looking to their streaming service for success. 

The Hollywood Reporter notes that the first portion of the Winter Olympics have brought significantly reduced viewership compared to the 2018 Olympic Games, which were held in PyeongChang, South Korea.

NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua said that the ratings for the Winter Olympic games are "difficult," but said that they are about what he expected.

"For us, it’s been difficult. There’s no way around this," Bevacqua told The Hollywood Reporter. "The fact that we’ve been able to bring these Games to life during a pandemic with only a six-month window between the two [Olympics], the ratings are — of course we always want to have the ratings better — but the ratings for these Games, as I said, are about where we thought they’d be."

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 The Comcast/NBC Universal building also known as the UCP10 is seen in Universal City on Wednesday, June 2, 2021 in Los Angeles, CA.  (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Bevacqua said that a decrease in spectators often means a decrease in viewership, which is being seen with these Olympic Games.

"It’s no secret that athletes in masks, venues without spectators, so much of the passion and excitement, those great moments of Olympic athletes hugging their family and friends and spouses and partners, so much of that magic is just out of necessity not present," Bevacqua said. "Look at the difference in NFL ratings in ’21 compared