Really, it’s NBC’s job to adapt its programming to fit the current zeitgeist. It’s futile to blame “millennials” for lower ratings because it’s futile to a blame a whole generation of people for any singular thing, or hold them accountable in any sort of meaningful way. Millennials don’t need to get down with the Olympics; instead, the Olympics should pander to us millennials.
I didn’t watch the Olympics but I don’t really have an interest in most sports but everyone I know that skipped out on watching couldn’t watch the events they were interested in live, didn’t want to sit through commercials, don’t care about talking-heads commentary or didn’t have a cable-TV subscription.
It’s NBC’s job to address these issues. Maybe if there was an Apple TV App for $29.95 that gave the viewer live access to every sport on right now and the ability to watch any event on-demand later ad-free, the uptake would be HUGE.