Every four years, billions of people all around the world tune in to celebrate the summer Olympic Games. However, the winter Games constantly struggle to bring in this same level of media attention and viewership. Both showcase talented athletes and unique sports, yet the winter Games have around 2 billion viewers globally compared to the summer Games’s 5 billion global watchers. This trend is even shown within the sports themselves, with the winter Games only representing 91 countries and 2,900 athletes, whereas the summer Games represent 206 countries and 11,300 athletes. This large gap in popularity occurs for various reasons, but it is mainly due to the inaccessibility of the winter sports and the timing.
The summer Games highlight more commonly played sports, such as track, swimming and basketball. When watching these Games, many people are already aware of how the sports work. Because of this, the rules are often easier to catch on to and this makes watching the sport more interesting. Many people have either played the sport before, or have a basic understanding of how to do it. This is due to the higher accessibility of the sports, as the necessary equipment and training methods are more obtainable. Many of the sports, like tennis or field hockey, are offered at schools and are covered year round by the media. For example, soccer is not just focused on at the Olympics, but throughout many competitions year round. In contrast, many of the sports in the winter Olympics are extremely expensive and only occur in certain areas. Many people do not have access to places where they can train to ski, bobsled or ice skate, all sports showcased at the winter Games. As an effect, these sports are generally less popular, so less is known about their rules and how to play them.
The scheduling also plays a large role in why the winter Olympics is less popular, particularly due to the time of year it occurs. Not only are the days shorter, but many people are generally more busy with school and major holidays. Additionally, many other popular sports occur around the same time, leading to lower viewership. For example, the US Super Bowl is another large sporting event that takes place in February, and attracts viewers globally. Anyone who participates in a sport may also be more busy during this time, as winter can be a peak season for activities such as basketball, indoor volleyball and swimming. In contrast, the summer Olympics happen during a time where people take more breaks–like being on a vacation–and calendars are more freed up with school being out.
Although these factors weigh down the likelihood of people watching the winter Olympics, more people should try to tune in. By increasing the viewership and popularity of many of these less-funded sports, more people will become inspired to try them out. This allows for more people to compete and the sports to grow. Many of the sports are extremely uncommon, like skeleton and luge (where the athlete will slide down icy tracks at up to 80 miles per hour), but are seriously entertaining to watch. In order to help combat these issues of lower viewership, it could be beneficial to help market the Games in a different way. In order to attract new or confused viewers, explanations that help simplify the sports could be stated at the beginning of the matches. It would also be helpful to help highlight certain athletes in the same way that the summer Olympics does. Like how track is now synonymous with Usain Bolt, winter athletes should be marketed for their sports. If the audience tries watching the winter Games, they may realize how complex and intriguing these sports can be.
