TV Ratings: Beijing Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony Draws 16 Million Viewers, Down 43% From 2018 Games

The 2022 Beijing Olympics concluded Sunday with icy fanfare,  a spirited speech from International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach and an audience count that pales in comparison to previous Winter games.

Despite all the high-tech tricks, political posturing and pyrotechnics, the best part of the Closing Ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics proved to be the athletes.

Coverage of the 2022 Winter Olympics wraps up Sunday with the Closing Ceremony, which will air live from Beijing National Stadium on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app beginning at 7 a.m. ET/4 a.m. PT. NBC and Peacock will rebroadcast the finale gala in an “enhanced primetime presentation” beginning Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Simone Biles has shared her support for Winter Olympics star Mikaela Shiffrin after she posted a heartbreaking message to fans.MORE: Simone Biles is engaged! See the heartwarming proposal and stunning ringMikaela took to social media to share a powerful message about the online hate and trolling she has received as she struggled through the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Mikeala was one of Team USA's big hopefuls but she failed to finish the women's combined event, and lost control during the opening few seconds of her run in the giant slalom; Mikeala was defending her 2018 gold medal.WATCH: Simone Biles falls off mat during Tokyo 2020 qualifying roundsShe fell and skied out, ending her 30-race streak, and ended up being disqualified from the event."I know this all too well.

Figure skater Nathan Chen and snowboarder Chloe Kim both brought gold for the U.S. Olympic team during Wednesday’s primetime coverage of the 2022 winter games in Beijing. Chen, fresh off his world-record-shattering men’s short program performance, nabbed the top prize in the men’s singles while Kim won gold for the women’s halfpipe. Each added to their tallies of Olympic medals, while also helping to provide a nice boost to NBC’s primetime coverage.

Figure skater Nathan Chen brought glory to the United States on the ice during Monday’s primetime coverage of the 2022 Winter Olympics, shattering the world record in the men’s short program at the Beijing games. Nabbing 113.97 points, Chen brought in the highest short program score in figure skating history. Monday saw new highs for Chen and the winter sport, not for NBC’s fifth night of coverage, or at least in early numbers.

Daft Punk’s music made an unlikely appearance at the Winter Olympics yesterday (February 6).A medley featuring a series of tracks from the former dance duo’s final album ‘Random Access Memories’ was used to soundtrack a routine in the US figure skating Team Event in Beijing.The team were sitting in third place behind Japan in a battle for the silver medal before Madison Chock and Evan Bates performed their Daft Punk routine which included snippets of ‘Within’, ‘Contact’ and ‘Touch’.As a result the team picked up the silver medal. You can view the pair’s routine below.#NBCOlympics #WinterOlympics2022 #TeamUSAUSA's Chock/Bates channel Daft Punk to win team ice dance | Winter Olympics 2022 | NBC Sports pic.twitter.com/PCmjpiqKLL— Pitbull (@Willian87420216) February 7, 2022Daft Punk split last February after 28 years together.

With the first full day of games tucked away, NBC posted some early numbers from the Beijing Winter Olympics and the glass seems to be half full.

It’s early days at the XXIV Olympic Winter Games, but NBC must already be praying for some Gold medal glory or the Super Bowl to give them a boost. Right now, coming off record low viewership in the first night of primetime coverage, the billions the Comcast-owned network fork out to broadcast the Games until 2032 isn’t looking like money well spent.

Chinese authorities interrupted a Dutch journalist’s live report on the Winter Olympics Friday, dragging him off-camera and creating confusion as to why his broadcast was halted.

2022 Winter Olympics are underway! The opening ceremony was held on Friday, at Beijing's National Stadium, which is also known as the «Bird's Nest,» and signaled the official start of the Games.The Parade of Nations, the part of the ceremony that highlights each competing nation in the Games, featured many standout moments including a shirtless skeleton competitor, a long-awaited moment for Jamaica, and a Ralph Lauren-clad Team USA.While the U.S. counted its second-largest Olympic delegation in history, other countries had just one athlete set to compete on their behalf. It all came to a close with an epic torch lighting that differed from years past.Keep reading for the five biggest moments from the opening ceremony.With Tonga's Pita Taufatofua sitting out the Olympics for the first time since 2014, fans worried that the cross-country skier's absence would mean they'd be deprived of a shirtless, oiled-up athlete during the Parade of Nations.

only 15 out LGBTQ athletes competed.Outsports reports that the athletes hail from 14 countries and will compete in nine different sports, including ice hockey, figure skating, skiing, and snowboarding.They include veteran LGBTQ competitors like Canadian figure skater Eric Radford, the first out gay man to win a gold Winter Olympics medal, bisexual Dutch speed skater Ireen Wüst, the most decorated LGBTQ Olympian of all time, and gay skier Gus Kenworthy, who will be competing for Great Britain after switching from Team USA (Kenworthy holds dual citizenship).Also Read: A tennis player yelled anti-gay slurs at the Olympics. He blamed the weather.The Beijing Winter Games will also feature a number of freshly out LGBTQ athletes, including Brazilian skeleton athlete Nicole Silveira and Team USA figure skater Timothy LeDuc, who will be the first out nonbinary athlete at the Winter Olympics.Team USA’s Brittany Bowe, a world record-holding speed skater, holds the honor of being the only out LGBTQ athlete to be chosen as a flag bearer for the Winter Olympics opening ceremony.Bowe, the only openly LGBTQ woman athlete on Team USA, will compete in her third Olympic games in Beijing.

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains details of this morning’s Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony live on NBC.

NBCU is going all-in on the Opening Ceremony for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Not only is it broadcasting the event four times in 24 hours on the NBC flagship, it’s promising “full-day coverage” beginning with the first-ever live morning presentation of a Winter Games opening ceremony. Mike Tirico and Savannah Guthrie will anchor the coverage.

The 2022 Olympic Winter Games are kicking off this week and we have the streaming schedule available for you right here! – Just Jared Jr When did Gisele Bundchen actually want Tom Brady to retire? – Celebitchy Jason Ritter is defending his wife Melanie Lynskey – Popsugar Find out who is reprising one of their big roles – Just Jared Jr