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CLAIM: The 2024 Paris Olympics are the "lowest-rated" Games in modern history, and the IOC said the event would lose more than $300 million.

RATING: Labeled Satire

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On July 30, 2024, Facebook account America's Last Line of Defense posted a meme claiming the 2024 Paris Olympics were the "lowest-rated" Games in modern history.

The caption on the post read:

The stands are half-empty, and the ratings are in the toilet. The IOC says the games will lose more than $300 million over the blasphemous opening they allowed to happen.

Go woke go broke.

Text in the meme said: "Paris Now Has the Lowest-Rated Olympic Games in Modern History: 'People Want Sports, Not Blasphemy.'"

The post by America's Last Line of Defense (ALLOD) referenced the controversial opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, which some Christians online claimed mocked Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" painting.

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However, the claims in the post were not factual. The claims originated from ALLOD — a network of social media accounts and websites that describe their output as satirical in nature. Its Facebook page's bio stated: "Nothing on this page is real." The meme shared in the post also included a "Satire" badge in the bottom right corner.

It was unclear what "ratings" the ALLOD post was referencing, as well as if they supposedly applied to U.S. or global audiences. As far as U.S. viewing figures, the first few days of the 2024 Paris Olympics had significantly more people tuned than the same period of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, according to a NBCUniversal report released on July 30, 2024.

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According to the Dunning-Kruger Times' "About Us" page, the website uses the term "potatoes" or "taters" to refer to "conservative fans of America's Last Line of Defense. They are fragile, frightened, mostly older caucasian Americans. They believe everything." It also stated "everything on this website is fiction."

ALLOD and its associated accounts have a history of making up stories for shares and comments.

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Gallup has measured viewing intentions for each Summer Olympics since 2000, except for the 2020 Olympic Games that were delayed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to the 35% who plan to watch at least a fair amount of this year’s games, 34% say they will not watch much and 30% do not plan to watch any. The latter figure is up from 21% in 2016 and is more than double the 2000 to 2012 readings, which ranged from 12% to 14%.

Americans’ lack of interest in this year’s Olympics is also evident in the 56% who are aware the games are being held in France. In recent Summer Olympic years, no less than 63% of U.S. adults accurately identified the host country. However, in 1948 and 1952, before the Olympics were televised, fewer Americans than today could correctly identify England (37%) and Finland (32%), respectively, as the host countries.

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All Key Subgroups Showing Less Interest Than in the Past

Americans in all of these subgroups are much less inclined to watch this year’s games than to have watched past Summer Olympics. And some of the subgroup differences in viewing interest were smaller, or nonexistent, in the past.

Between 2000 and 2012, when a relatively consistent 58% of U.S. adults planned to watch those years' Olympic Games, eight percentage points separated postgraduates (63%) and those who did not attend college (55%). Now, the gap between these groups stands at 22 points after larger declines in 2016 and 2024 among non-college Americans (down a total of 30 points) than postgraduates (down 16 points).

From 2000 to 2012, an average of 64% of Democrats, 59% of Republicans and 52% of independents said they were planning to watch that year’s Olympics. All party groups showed decreases of between nine and 11 points in 2016, but there has been a much sharper drop from 2016 to now among Republicans (17 points) than Democrats (eight points) or independents (12 points). These changes leave Republicans on par with independents but well below Democrats.

There have been larger drops over time among lower-income and younger Americans than their upper-income and older counterparts. Meanwhile, men and women show similar declines in interest over time.

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Bottom Line

While the 2024 Olympic Games are still likely to draw sizable audiences compared with other concurrent entertainment options, far fewer Americans plan to watch the events than in prior years. The decline in interest has occurred across all major demographic subgroups, but more so among Americans who did not pursue education beyond high school. Women’s gymnastics should draw the largest audience, which will be dominated by female viewers.

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