Summer Olympics Poised to Have Record-Low U.S. Viewership

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. viewing audience for the 2024 Paris Games is poised to be the smallest for any prior Summer Olympics Gallup has measured. Thirty-five percent of U.S. adults plan to watch a great deal (10%) or fair amount (25%) of the games, which is down from 48% measured for the 2016 Olympics and figures just shy of 60% from 2000 to 2012.
Gallup has measured viewing intentions for each Summer Olympics since 2000, except for the 2020 Olympic Games that were delayed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to the 35% who plan to watch at least a fair amount of this year’s games, 34% say they will not watch much and 30% do not plan to watch any. The latter figure is up from 21% in 2016 and is more than double the 2000 to 2012 readings, which ranged from 12% to 14%.
Americans’ lack of interest in this year’s Olympics is also evident in the 56% who are aware the games are being held in France. In recent Summer Olympic years, no less than 63% of U.S. adults accurately identified the host country. However, in 1948 and 1952, before the Olympics were televised, fewer Americans than today could correctly identify England (37%) and Finland (32%), respectively, as the host countries.
No major subgroup of Americans expresses high levels of interest in watching the 2024 Olympics, but there are notable differences in viewership intentions.
Americans in all of these subgroups are much less inclined to watch this year’s games than to have watched past Summer Olympics. And some of the subgroup differences in viewing interest were smaller, or nonexistent, in the past.
Between 2000 and 2012, when a relatively consistent 58% of U.S. adults planned to watch those years’ Olympic Games, eight percentage points separated postgraduates (63%) and those who did not attend college (55%). Now, the gap between these groups stands at 22 points after larger declines in 2016 and 2024 among non-college Americans (down a total of 30 points) than postgraduates (down 16 points).
From 2000 to 2012, an average of 64% of Democrats, 59% of Republicans and 52% of independents said they were planning to watch that year’s Olympics. All party groups showed decreases of between nine and 11 points in 2016, but there has been a much sharper drop from 2016 to now among Republicans (17 points) than Democrats (eight points) or independents (12 points). These changes leave Republicans on par with independents but well below Democrats.
There have been larger drops over time among lower-income and younger Americans than their upper-income and older counterparts. Meanwhile, men and women show similar declines in interest over time.
A separate July 1-14 Gallup Panel survey of U.S. adults planning to watch at least some of the 2024 Olympics asked them to choose which specific event they were most looking forward to watching. Respondents were given choices of women’s and men’s competitions in each of four sports — swimming, track and field, gymnastics, and basketball. These were the top four sports Americans named when asked to choose their favorite Olympic sport in a 2008 Gallup poll. Respondents could also volunteer a sport other than the eight displayed options.
The clear winner is women’s gymnastics, chosen by 42% of Americans as the event they most look forward to and 68% ranking it among their top three choices.
Next are men’s and women’s track and field and swimming competitions, with 6% to 10% ranking those sports first and 29% to 33% ranking them among their top three. Men’s basketball ties with the swimming events as the top choice for 6% of Americans, but fewer, 20%, rank it among their top three.
Some other sports Americans volunteer as their favorite are soccer, equestrian, skateboarding, volleyball and diving, each mentioned by 1% of respondents.
Women’s gymnastics is the single most anticipated sport among all major subgroups except for men, who name women’s gymnastics (22%) and men’s track and field (20%) as the one sport they are most looking forward to watching. Sixty percent of women, far more than any other subgroup, name women’s gymnastics as their most anticipated sport.
Americans are more likely to express interest in sports involving athletes of their same gender than the opposite gender. More women say they are interested in the women’s than men’s versions of gymnastics, track and field, swimming and (by a slim margin) basketball, based on an analysis of the top three events they most look forward to watching.
For men, the pattern is the same, with the exception of gymnastics. Forty-nine percent of men rank women’s gymnastics among their three most anticipated events, compared with 20% for men’s gymnastics. In other sports, men prefer the men’s version over the women’s by margins close to 2-to-1 or greater.
While the 2024 Olympic Games are still likely to draw sizable audiences compared with other concurrent entertainment options, far fewer Americans plan to watch the events than in prior years. The decline in interest has occurred across all major demographic subgroups, but more so among Americans who did not pursue education beyond high school. Women’s gymnastics should draw the largest audience, which will be dominated by female viewers.
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