It looked like 2012 all over again. Swimming legend Michael Phelps soared past his longtime friend and rival Ryan Lochte in the final lap of the 200m race on Thursday, winning gold and smashing fresh records, just as he had at the London games. 

For the television business, however, the similarities stopped there. About 31m people tuned in for the matchup between the two top swimmers of their generation, down from 37m for the equivalent night in 2012’s games. On average, broadcast ratings for Rio have been about 20 per cent lower than four years ago, despite NBC selling 20 per cent more advertising dollars than in 2012. 

Comcast-owned NBC, which paid $7.8bn to extend its deal to broadcast the Olympics until 2032, had previously forecast Rio would be the most profitable Olympics in history amid expectations of higher viewership.