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The world heard JD Vance being booed at the Olympics. Except for viewers in USA (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 9 months ago by [B] to c/hackernews@lemmy.bestiver.se
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[–] 3 points 9 months ago (13 children)

Most Americans don’t bother to watch in the first place, especially not with the superbowl happening this weekend. Most people I’ve talked to didn’t even know the Olympics were happening. And the few that I have talked to haven’t wanted to watch it on NBC because it’s pointless to watch there because you can’t even see any sports and the commentators are terrible.

I know that’s all anecdotal, but I’ve seen stats in the past about how low viewership is for the Olympics in America because of how bad the coverage is. So yeah, anyone that actually cares about watching is doing it through a VPN.

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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    This is peak bubbleposting. Imagine thinking that more than a tiny percentage of people have any idea what a VPN does

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    In 2016 there were hundreds of articles about how to watch the Olympics on VPNs because of how bad the coverage was.

    At least 32% of Americans use VPNs, and 3/4 Americans know what VPNs are. https://www.security.org/resources/vpn-consumer-report-annual/. Funny enough this survey admits that the stats will be underreported because the survey platform doesn’t allow VPN usage. That 3/10 number actually comes up a lot in the rest of the data around Olympic viewership.

    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.

    Literally every statistic points to the fact that Americans use VPNs to watch the Olympics abroad more than they watch the home broadcast. American VPN usage lines up with these numbers, and nearby English countries’ numbers are much higher than they should be.

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    That’s true winter isn’t as popular but between app subscribers and older gen with actual tv packages most will just watch it normally

    But you’re right anyone legitimately into it will seek out a vpn but that’s still a small portion of the actual watchers. Most will tolerate the sloppy coverage or if it’s really that bad just turn it off and move on with their lives

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (2 children)

    I’ve linked all the stats in other comments, but yes, most Americans are likely watching through VPN, not watching through NBC. The numbers just do not line up in any way if the majority are watching on NBC.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (1 child)

    VPN usage to get around geo broadcasting is not popular in America so the most likely explanation almost certainly aligns with an explanation not involving vpn use (except hardcore fans would definitely use it)

    So I think you’re actually wrong trying to deduce stuff from those stats and the reality is simply fewer Americans care about Winter Olympics (lotta stuff going on rn not just w Super Bowl too) + more people just watch clips off YouTube and TikTok and instagram/fb

    But none of that requires a vpn

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    The stats are from two years ago the Paris summer Olympics, not this year, so before trump. And the surveys about people that intend to watch the Olympics would easily point to what I said. The Olympics are incredibly popular, sports are incredibly popular in America (hence why we send the most athletes of any nation, even more than China).

    None of what you said applies. It’s not Winter Olympics for those stats, those stats actually continue back to 2012-16 (when NBC started doing such a shit job), and they apply to all Olympics. Surveys state more Americans are watching than nbc reports each time, and the majority of Americans know how to use a VPN. Other countries that comparatively watch less sports are somehow watching orders of magnitude more than the US, but only English speaking countries, not host countries, even though traditionally host countries have the most participation.

    If you have another explanation for all of these things then go ahead and explain.

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  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago (5 children)

    I know multiple people who watched it on nbc yesterday and in the past I always did. So no what you're saying isn't true.

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  • [–] -2 points 9 months ago (4 children)

    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.

    Literally every statistic points to the fact that Americans use VPNs to watch the Olympics abroad more than they watch the home broadcast.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (3 children)

    Anecdotes aren’t evidence.

    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.

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  • [–] -3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 0 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    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.

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