Simone Biles’ return has helped viewership at the Olympics, averaging 16.8 million

The Tokyo Olympics attracted an average of 17.4 million viewers for Tuesday’s coverage, and NBCUniversal’s overall prime-time average remained at 16.8 million viewers on its platforms, the company said on Wednesday. media.

The return of gymnastics star Simone Biles to competition on Tuesday morning and helped draw viewers. Biles withdrew from events last week citing mental health concerns, but returned to win a bronze medal on the women’s beam on Tuesday. Biles, 24, now has seven Olympic medals, placing Shannon Miller number one among US Olympic gymnasts.

NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC, noted that television audiences alone had 16.8 million viewers on Tuesday. The start of track and field competitions also helped, and American women’s football and American men’s basketball were two of the main attractions at the Tokyo Olympics earlier in the week. The US women’s team fell to Canada 1-0 and were eliminated from the Games. This contest ended early Monday morning. The men’s victory over Spain in the round of 16 (quarterfinals) aired on NBC’s Peacock streaming service and ended around 2 a.m. EST on Tuesday.

The Tokyo Games recovered from poor ratings at the opening ceremony, which drew around 17 million viewers. The opening weekend drew 19.8 million viewers for the July 25 coverage, featuring the US men’s basketball team losing to France.

But the numbers started to drop after that, as the number of viewers last Friday averaged 15.5 million TV and streaming viewers. However, viewers streamed approximately 3 billion minutes of Tokyo Olympics content on its platforms, including Peacock, and NBCUniversal estimates the total will exceed the Rio 2016 Olympics, which broadcast 3.3 billion minutes.

If advertisers fail to get negotiated impressions, they are given manufacturing products – inventory in other NBC programs. Historically, the Summer Olympics have attracted a huge number of viewers. In 2016, the two-week event averaged 27.5 million viewers across all NBC platforms. The London 2012 Games attracted around 31 million viewers and the 2008 Beijing Olympics attracted an average of 27 million viewers.

If sponsors don’t get impressions from American viewers, athletes can’t maximize sponsorship deals, said Edward Schauder, sports lawyer at law firm Phillips Nizer.

Schauder negotiated endorsement deals involving top athletes, including Tiger Woods and the 1980 US Olympic hockey team.

However, performance can trump ratings, and winning multiple gold medals would help overcome low impressions as companies capitalize on iconic Olympic names over the long haul.

“If you win gold medals like Mark Spitz, you will always be known,” Schauder said. “You win 28 medals like Michael Phelps, you will always be known.”

This year swimmer Caeleb Dressel, who won five gold medals in Tokyo, shone. He joined Spitz and Phelps to win at least five medals in one summer. And at $ 37,500 per gold, Dressel earned a six-figure salary. Dressel is already aligned with major sponsors, including Toyota and Coca-Cola, and made the rounds of national media on Tuesday after returning to the United States.

American swimmer Katie Ledecky also stood out, especially during the battle with Australian Ariarne Titmus in the women’s 400m freestyle. Ledecky won four medals at the Tokyo Games and now has 10 medals in his Olympic career.

American athletics star Sydney McLaughlin (gold) set a new world record in the women’s 400m hurdles on Tuesday. McLaughlin, former Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year, defeated fellow American Dalilah Muhammad and finished in 51:47 seconds.

McLaughlin, 21, is aligned with watchmaker TAG Heuer and has an agreement with clothing company New Balance.

“There will also be an athlete or two that emerge that everyone is talking about,” Schauder said, adding that marketers and film producers could identify “some interesting stories that people find out after” the Olympics.

Gymnast Suni Lee and golfer Xander Sc Chaudele are two of the most exciting stories that have emerged from souls.

After Biles retired from competitions, 18-year-old Lee stepped in and won the all-around women’s gymnastics, extending America’s 17-year-old winning streak in that event. ScHotele was involved in a last-round thrill with Slovak Rory Sabbatini. Additionally, wrestler Tamyra Mensah-Stock was second on Facebook’s list, after becoming the first black woman to win gold in the competition which debuted in 2004.

Internationally, the 13-year-old girls Momiji Nishiya (Japan) and Rayssa Leal (Brazil) were also popular at the Tokyo Games. Nishiya finished with gold and Leal won silver in the women’s street skateboarding competition, one of the new sports added to the Olympics. And Sky Brown, 13, became Britain’s youngest Olympic medalist when she won bronze in the women’s skate park final.

Additionally, varsity athletes should benefit from the name, image and likeness upon their return to universities.

“They will be able to add an Olympic medalist to their profile and be a member of an Olympic team,” Schauder said. “It’s like when Christian Laettner benefited from being the college kid who played in the Dream Team.”

Entering Wednesday, the United States remains in the lead with 79 total medals (25 gold). China has 70 medals (32 gold) and the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) is third with 53 medals in total.

Disclosure: CNBC’s parent company, NBCUniversal, owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the US licensee to broadcast all Summer and Winter Games until 2032.