NBC, Olympics on TV, and declining ratings...
Does anyone care?
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Wanted to take a few minutes and open discussion on the recent winter Olympics and the depressed ratings that were had for same.
NBC crows that they'll be making about $50 million for their investment in the Olympic rights, but the ratings that were seen for the most current (Tourin) Olympics were most certainly nothing to be happy about. They were beaten by Dancing with the Stars, American Idol and even a few other shows. What used to be a juggernaut of programming that was truly must see became old news very quickly, and viewers opted not to tune in at all.
Can the Olympics be fixed as a TV property for the U.S. market? I don't know. The proliferation of news, especially sports news, via the internet, as well as the old standby's like Radio and even cable TV stations like ESPN, CNN, and more is making it awfully tough for NBC to maintain the stranglehold on the information about who won events, as well as any other side stories (like the Shani Davis vs. Chad Hedrick drama of this year's winter Olympics).
To me, the biggest problem is the continued use of tape delays to try to manipulate viewers into watching during desired times. The highly regarded female skating is delayed until 10pm or later on the east coast of the U.S.A., so that it will be seen in prime time across the country. The only problem being that the event happened many hours earlier, the news is already out on what happened, and with no horse in the race (so to say), the U.S. viewers didn't bother to tune in.
While many of the events could be found live on USA Network, or CNBC or other cable off-shoots of the mother ship (NBC network), the majority of the Olympic viewers still come from network viewers -- viewers of the local NBC affiliates or NBC Owned and Operated (O&O) stations. Those stations are the ones that are hoping for the big boost in viewership that the Olympics are supposed to provide, and those stations need the Olympics to do well to help promote the rest of NBC's schedule, and help make the ad-time that they are selling a hot commodity.
Vancouver is coming soon, and with it being in the Pacific time zone for U.S.A. viewers, many of the events will be live, which might reverse the current trend, but then again, Bejing is also coming soon, and the time difference will be a tremendous one. One that is likely to seriously hurt the TV ratings for NBC.
I guess this all leads up to the question in my sub-title: Does anyone care? Does it matter that an Olympics is held and most U.S. citizens would rather watch American Idol? You tell me.
NBC crows that they'll be making about $50 million for their investment in the Olympic rights, but the ratings that were seen for the most current (Tourin) Olympics were most certainly nothing to be happy about. They were beaten by Dancing with the Stars, American Idol and even a few other shows. What used to be a juggernaut of programming that was truly must see became old news very quickly, and viewers opted not to tune in at all.
Can the Olympics be fixed as a TV property for the U.S. market? I don't know. The proliferation of news, especially sports news, via the internet, as well as the old standby's like Radio and even cable TV stations like ESPN, CNN, and more is making it awfully tough for NBC to maintain the stranglehold on the information about who won events, as well as any other side stories (like the Shani Davis vs. Chad Hedrick drama of this year's winter Olympics).
To me, the biggest problem is the continued use of tape delays to try to manipulate viewers into watching during desired times. The highly regarded female skating is delayed until 10pm or later on the east coast of the U.S.A., so that it will be seen in prime time across the country. The only problem being that the event happened many hours earlier, the news is already out on what happened, and with no horse in the race (so to say), the U.S. viewers didn't bother to tune in.
While many of the events could be found live on USA Network, or CNBC or other cable off-shoots of the mother ship (NBC network), the majority of the Olympic viewers still come from network viewers -- viewers of the local NBC affiliates or NBC Owned and Operated (O&O) stations. Those stations are the ones that are hoping for the big boost in viewership that the Olympics are supposed to provide, and those stations need the Olympics to do well to help promote the rest of NBC's schedule, and help make the ad-time that they are selling a hot commodity.
Vancouver is coming soon, and with it being in the Pacific time zone for U.S.A. viewers, many of the events will be live, which might reverse the current trend, but then again, Bejing is also coming soon, and the time difference will be a tremendous one. One that is likely to seriously hurt the TV ratings for NBC.
I guess this all leads up to the question in my sub-title: Does anyone care? Does it matter that an Olympics is held and most U.S. citizens would rather watch American Idol? You tell me.
