Things started out well on Sunday night for Winter Olympics broadcaster Seven – but after the news delivered its expected win early in the night, it was mostly a slippery slope from there.
The final night of the Beijing Games failed to crack half a million viewers, with the network’s 6pm news audience (916,000 viewers in the five capital cities) dropping to 588,000 for the return of Dancing With the Stars: All Stars at 7pm before the Olympics kicked off at 8.30pm.
Fireworks during the closing ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics on Sunday night.Credit:AP
From there, it was the figure skating that recorded the highest Games audience of the day – 457,000 people, and the only Olympic moment to crack the top 10. The countdown to the closing ceremony landed in 13th spot with 264,000 viewers, just ahead of the afternoon Games broadcast which drew 249,000 viewers. The closing ceremony itself – which didn’t kick off until 11pm in Victoria and NSW – was seen by 183,000 viewers.
The winter edition of the Olympics is often a mixed bag for the broadcaster: the commitment is enormous and doesn’t leave much room for schedule flexibility.
Unlike the summer Games, there is little prospect of Australian medal success, which affects viewer enthusiasm. This year did produce Australia’s best overall medal performance, with four in total, including skier Jakara Anthony’s gold in the women’s moguls. That win helped Seven win the first night of the official ratings survey for the year on February 6, and there was further Australian celebration a week later when Jackie Narracott won silver in the women’s skeleton.
And the event has helped Seven to an overall win across the week, with steady Beijing numbers bolstered by its ever-reliable new bulletins.
The overnight television ratings are also only one indicator of success. On Monday morning, Seven was trumpeting record numbers on its 7Plus streaming platform. Online viewer numbers were up 254 per cent on the 2018 winter Games, the network said.
Sunday night’s figure skating drew the biggest Australian audience. Credit:Getty
Seven also hailed the opening weeks of 2022 as its most successful start to a ratings year since its broadcast of those last winter Games, which broke records for a Winter Olympics.
Flagbearer Sami Kennedy-Sim during the closing ceremony. Credit:Getty
As the clock ticked past 11 on the east coast, the view numbers might have dwindled but there was plenty of enthusiasm on screen as the Australian team celebrated the country’s most successful winter Games.
The squad on closing night was a little shrunken, as many athletes had returned home immediately after their events in this COVID-affected competition, but freestyle skier Sami Kennedy-Sim flew the flag for the Australian team as she celebrated her own Olympic success. Kennedy-Sim is a stroke survivor and a three-time Olympian who made the semi-finals of the freestyle skicross in Beijing.
With stories such as that, the stature of the event itself is never in doubt. And any broadcast is elevated by the presence of Bruce McAvaney, a less-regular but always welcome presence on our screens.
Seven brought him in on Sunday night to help bring home the Beijing bacon.
“I’ve been trying to get here for three weeks, I lost the key to the studio,” McAvaney joked as he delivered his verdict on the competition. “Four medals and two on the one day – so a lot of history.”
McAvaney’s appearance delighted the Games purists watching on at home (and might have drawn some more eyeballs had it been better promoted in advance). Said one viewer on Twitter: “Bruce McAvaney deserves a gold medal for that cameo. Forget retirement. Is he signed up for the Paris coverage yet?”
And another: “Bruce McAvaney will never be surpassed, never ever … Macca at his brilliant best. Sports fans… find it, watch it.”
There can never be too much Bruce. To wrap things up, Seven’s Olympics anchor Hamish McLachlan had McAvaney take us through Seven’s next shot at Games ratings success: the Commonwealth Games, set to be held in the UK in July.
As always, his enthusiasm was infectious. Bruce can’t wait for Birmingham. And Seven will be hoping viewers feel the same as its smorgasbord of sport – two Olympics and a Commonwealth Games squeezed into one 12-month span – continues.
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