The way we watch TV is changing, and that fact was glaringly apparent at this year’s Winter Olympics, which went down in history as the lowest-rated Games ever.
One-time figure skating gold medalist and current commentator Scott Hamilton joined Cheddar to discuss the numbers.
“How they’re measuring viewership is different now,” he told Cheddar Tuesday. “How do we know how many people are actually watching and being impacted by the Olympics? If it’s a second screen, if it’s internet viewing, it’s different.”
Ratings for the 2018 PyeongChang OIympics were down more than seven percent from the 2014 Sochi Games, according to [one report](http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/more-tv-news/2018-winter-olympics-ratings-are-down-but-nbc-is-still-happy/). The events averaged just over 22 million viewers this year, versus more than 23 million last time.
But Hamilton, who was relegated from NBC’s primetime figure skating coverage to its Sports Network’s “Olympic Ice” show, says the network was happy with the viewership overall.
“From where I was, and I was there in PyeongChang, they were happy,” he told Cheddar during the interview. “In the show that I did, the ratings for that particular time were quintuple what they received before.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/living-a-life-of-gold).
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Feb. 4, 2019.
While the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams face off for the Super Bowl title, advertisers will be waging their own battles during Twitter's Brand Bowl 53. Ryan Oliver, senior director of brand strategy for the U.S. and Canada at Twitter ($TWTR), said the Brand Bowl is a celebration of the advertisers that are being talked about on Twitter.
Wine manufacturer Yellow Tail can’t buy a national ad during the Super Bowl ー but that won't stop the company from getting its “Tastes like Happy” campaign out to the public in spectacular fashion. To skirt the category exclusivity hold that Anheuser-Busch InBev ($BUD) has on the Big Game, Yellow Tail bought 81 local ads ー which cover about 90 percent of the nation.
Millions of people around the world are getting ready for the Super Bowl on Sunday. And while the day is all fun and games, there's still a serious discussion happening about player safety. Now, two leading sports brands have teamed up to design new, state-of-the-art equipment using 3D printing. Joe DeSimone, co-founder and CEO of Carbon, stopped by Cheddar with more on how technology is making football more safe, head to toe.
Luke Wilson is taking a short break from Hollywood. A commercial break. The "Rushmore" and "Old School" actor is starring in his first Super Bowl commercial, and he says the 30-second Colgate spot will probably get more views than any of his movies. "I think more people will see this than any movie I've ever been in for sure," Wilson told Cheddar on Friday.
Draftkings CEO Jason Robins told Cheddar that New Jersey residents alone could wager as much as $100 million on the Super Bowl, the first time sports betting will be legal there for the big game.
Although it has 3 million customers, home security company SimpliSafe isn’t a household name yet. It’s hoping that will change on Sunday after its first Super Bowl ad airs.“In a market where people are trying to lock you in a contract or harvest your data, we’re trying to keep you safe,” brand creative director Wade Devers told Cheddar. “There aren’t really a lot of places you can reach the number of people you can reach like the Super Bowl.”
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Feb. 1, 2019.
On Super Bowl Sunday, the Hallmark Channel will be home to the sixth annual Kitten Bowl, the annual matchup of cat-letes held to benefit the North Shore Animal League. Beth Stern, host of the Kitten Bowl and spokesperson for North Shore (and wife to Howard), brought a pair of 12-week Siamese kittens to Cheddar Thursday to help promote a new event this year: the first-ever Cat Bowl.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019.
