By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --For most nights at the Tokyo Olympics, NBC's primetime coverage is drawing about half the audience that the Games had in Rio de Janeiro five years ago.
The numbers are sobering: Sunday's NBC audience of 13 million was down 51% from the 26.7 million who watched the corresponding night in Rio. Saturday night was down 57%, last Wednesday down 53% and Tuesday down 58%, the Nielsen company said.
NBC's best night last week, when it reached 16.2 million on Thursday, was still down 43% from Rio, Nielsen said.
"We've had some bad luck," NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Shell said last week. "There was a drumbeat of negativity … and that has resulted in linear ratings being probably less than we expected."
COVID restrictions that left largely empty arenas, the time difference with Japan and a lack of star power has played a part. Add in cable networks and streaming, and NBC Universal's position improves, but not by much.
The marked change in how people experience television in the past five years plays a part in the ratings decline. NBC's primetime had, on average, 35% less viewers this season than it had in 2015-16, Nielsen said.
One saving grace is NBC's dominance against its rivals. In fact, Fox last week averaged below 1 million viewers in primetime, believed to be the first time that's ever happened for one of the top four broadcast networks.
NBC averaged 13.4 million viewers in primetime last week. CBS had 2.22 million, ABC had 2.17 million, Univision had 1.9 million, Ion Television had 1.1 million, and Fox and Telemundo tied with 980,000.
Fox News Channel led the cable networks with an average of 1.95 million viewers in primetime. USA had 1.68 million, MSNBC had 1.1 million, HGTV had 979,000 and TLC had 882,000.
ABC's "World News Tonight" led the evening news ratings race with an average of 7.5 million viewers. NBC's "Nightly News" had 7.2 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 4.8 million.
For the week of July 26 to Aug. 1, the top 20 shows in primetime, their networks and viewerships:
1. "Summer Olympics" (Thursday), NBC, 16.19 million.
2. "Summer Olympics" (Monday), NBC, 14.76 million.
3. "Summer Olympics" (Tuesday), NBC, 14.01 million.
4. "Summer Olympics" (Sunday), NBC, 13.02 million.
5. "Summer Olympics" (Wednesday), NBC, 12.29 million.
6. "Summer Olympics" (Friday), NBC, 11.73 million.
7. "Summer Olympics" (Saturday), NBC, 10.91 million.
8. Soccer: Copa Oro 2021: EEUU vs. Mexico, Univision, 5.17 million.
9. "60 Minutes," CBS, 4.9 million.
10. "Big Brother" (Thursday), CBS, 3.86 million.
11. "Big Brother" (Wednesday), CBS, 3.79 million.
12. "Big Brother" (Sunday), CBS, 3.4 million.
13. "The Bachelorette," ABC, 3.36 million.
14. "Celebrity Family Feud," ABC, 3.33 million.
15. "NCIS," CBS, 3.31 million.
16. Soccer: Copa Oro 2021: Mexico vs. Canada, 3.26 million.
17. "America's Funniest Home Videos," ABC, 3.25 million.
18. "The $100,000 Pyramid," ABC, 3.19 million.
19. "Press Your Luck," ABC, 3.05 million.
20. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Tuesday), Fox News, 3.01 million.
Canada orders TikTok’s Canadian business to be dissolved but won’t block app
Canada announced Wednesday it won't block access to the popular video-sharing app TikTok but is ordering the dissolution of its Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind it.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said it is meant to address risks related to ByteDance Ltd.'s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.
"The government is not blocking Canadians' access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content. The decision to use a social media application or platform is a personal choice," Champagne said.
Champagne said it is important for Canadians to adopt good cybersecurity practices, including protecting their personal information.
He said the dissolution order was made in accordance with the Investment Canada Act, which allows for the review of foreign investments that may harm Canada's national security. He said the decision was based on information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada's security and intelligence community and other government partners.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of local jobs.
"We will challenge this order in court," the spokesperson said. "The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive."
TikTok is wildly popular with young people, but its Chinese ownership has raised fears that Beijing could use it to collect data on Western users or push pro-China narratives and misinformation. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020.
TikTok faces intensifying scrutiny... Read More