From February 7th to the 23rd, Sochi, Russia, hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics. This year’s games were different from past years, as television ratings were extremely low.

According to Nielsen, the company that measured the number of viewers who tuned into the Olympics, only 15.1 million people watched the closing ceremonies. During the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, more than 21.4 million people viewed the closing ceremonies. Another of Nielsen’s studies showed that the number of total viewers per night also dropped by about 12 percent from the previous Olympics.

Close to 60 percent of students surveyed at Southern Lehigh High School did not tune in to watch one single event.

“I didn’t watch the Olympics because I had too much school work, and it was on at inconvenient times,” junior Morgan Buchas said.

Time zones also posed a problem, as Sochi is nine hours ahead of the eastern United States. As a result, many prime time events were held during school hours.

Another contention with the games was the negative spotlight shadowing Russia, such as Putin’s view on gay rights.

“I think the ratings were down because Russia has built a negative reputation, and I think people didn’t want an iconic event such as the Olympics held in a place like that, so they refused to watch it,” senior Collin Johnston said.

Due to the internet’s easy access, some people have cut out cable and satellite television and only watch television by route of the internet.  However, NBC only offered internet access to people whose service providers offered it.

“The Olympics could be improved by making online streaming easier to access,” freshman John Schuebel said.

The 2018 Winter Olympics will be in South Korea.  American viewers will look to see if NBC can attract more viewers and solve the problem of decreasing interest.