My question: Who are the people who didn’t watch the Olympics?

From NBC:

LONDON – August 13, 2012 – 219.4 million Americans watched the London Olympics on the networks of NBCUniversal, setting the record as the most-watched event in U.S. television history, surpassing the 2008 Beijing Olympics (215 million), according to data available today from The Nielsen Company.

NBCUniversal, presented its 13^th Olympics, the most by any U.S. media company, with an unprecedented 5,535 hours of the 2012 London Olympics coverage across NBC, NBC Sports Network, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo, Telemundo, NBCOlympics.com, two specialty channels, and the first-ever 3D platform, an unprecedented level that surpasses the coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics by nearly 2,000 hours.

 

• 31.0 million average viewership for Closing Ceremony is most-watched for a non-U.S. Summer Olympics in 36 Years – topped Beijing by 12% and Athens by 58%;
• NBC averaged 31.1 million viewers over 17 nights in primetime, the most-watched non-U.S. Summer Olympics since the 1976 Montreal Olympics – topped Beijing by 12% and Athens by 26%;
• The 17.5/30 national household rating over 17 nights in primetime ties the 1988 Seoul Olympics as the highest-rated non-U.S. Summer Olympics since the 1976 Montreal Olympics;
• NBC Olympics Digital set multiple records with video streams, engagement time and page views – nearly 2 billion page views and 159 million video streams;
• NBC Sports Network had its most-watched event ever and its six most-watched days ever;
• Halo effect led to record ratings and significant growth for NBC News’ TODAY and “Nightly News with Brian Williams”;
• London Olympics lifts ratings and viewership for NBC’s affiliated stations and NBC Owned Television Stations;
• Telemundo more than doubled its viewership from the 2008 Beijing Olympics;
• Salt Lake City is top Olympic metered market for 7^th straight Olympics;
• Mountain Time Zone leads the way, followed by Pacific, Central and Eastern.

 

STEVE BURKE: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, NBCUNIVERSAL:

“The London Olympics was a wonderful 17 days for NBCUniversal, exceeding all our expectations in viewership, digital consumption and revenue. Every part of our company contributed to our success, once again showing how effective we can be when we all get together to support a large project. This was the first Olympic Games for Comcast and the new NBCUniversal, and the first in history in which every minute of every event was available live. We are proud to have been part of the last two weeks, and we couldn’t have asked for a better start to our long run of Olympic Games through 2020.”

MARK LAZARUS: CHAIRMAN, NBC SPORTS GROUP:

“For 17 days, NBCUniversal has surrounded the American viewer with the London Olympics, which have now become the most-watched event in U.S. television history. There are thousands of dedicated and talented people in London and New York who take great pride in being part of these historic Games and this television milestone.”

Are you listening NBC?

From a USA Today/Gallup poll:

Americans who say they are watching the Olympics “a lot” are most likely to want the most popular events televised both live during the day as they happen and on tape delay in the evening. Seven in 10 (71%) of these Americans want the most popular events televised live and on tape delay, as do a majority (57%) of those who are watching a little of the games and 43% of those who aren’t watching at all.

So would the 43% who aren’t watching at all tune in if the events aired live?

Wonder what NBC’s polls say?

For those covering this beat, there are a couple elusive interview subjects in London. One is Dick Ebersol and the other is Joe Posnanski.

While Posnanski has yet to discuss his upcoming book about Joe Paterno in the wake of the Freeh Commission findings, he did land the one and only chat Ebersol is doing during these Olympics.

I’m guessing it hasn’t been easy for Ebersol to turn down interview requests. Highly accessible, he always loved the spotlight during his tenure running NBC Sports.

But his day is past, as he is working these Olympics as a consultant. This show now belongs to Ebersol’s successor, Mark Lazarus. Out of proper respect, Ebersol has remained in the background.

However, he did grant an interview with Posnanski. It was posted on the Sports on Earth site that is getting a soft launch during the Olympics.

And surprise, surprise, Ebersol defended NBC’s policy of saving the best events for tape delay on prime time. Of course, Ebersol used that strategy when he oversaw NBC’s coverage of the Olympics.

From the story:

But Ebersol, in what he says will be his only interview at these Games, tells me that those critics have it all wrong. The Olympics, he believes, are not to be treated like other sports. “That’s just nonsense,” he says. “The Olympics are the biggest family television there is. The Olympics are some of the last events where a whole family can gather around a television set and spend the night together.

“People talk about how we should treat this like sports? You know, we’re getting an 18 rating some nights. Do you know what rating we would get if this was not under the banner of the Olympics? We’d be lucky to get a 1 rating for some of these sports. … This is our business model. The newspaper people have their own business model. We’re in the television business. We’re here to make great television.”

Ebersol has an interesting take on the BBC’s coverage compared to NBC’s:

“This year, really for the first time, I have had some time to watch the host country’s television,” Ebersol says. “I’ve been watching the BBC, which is one of the most respected entities in the world, right? Well, they will cut away from races to show a British athlete who is finishing fifth. They openly root for their athletes on the air. It’s a different approach, but we have never done that. Nobody ever uses the word ‘we’ in our coverage, and if they did they wouldn’t last long.

“I believe our coverage is different from anyone else’s in the world. We do as many features on foreign athletes as American athletes. We tell the best stories, wherever we can find them. There’s a great tradition in American television of professionalism in coverage, and I believe we live up to that tradition.”

As for how Ebersol is dealing with these Olympics, Posnanski writes:

Ebersol says that the London Games have been bittersweet. Part of him misses the tension and crackling energy of being in charge, of making instant and critical decisions. And part of him is happy that it is winding down. He doesn’t know what comes next. But, for the first time in his life, he says he’s not too worried about it. There are opportunities, a lot of them. There are also books he wants to read, friends he wants to see, trips he wants to take and family time that was all but impossible in all his years at the top.

Good stuff, Joe. It’s your turn next. The book comes out on Aug. 21.

For all the fire that is being generated in Twitter over the tape-delay stuff, NBC executives couldn’t be more ecstatic in London.

Ratings for the Olympics have been huge. So big in fact, NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke told analysts the network, which projected nearly $200 million in losses, may break even on the Games.

I had a chance to talk yesterday to Alan Wurtzel, NBC research president.

The basic question: Why are the numbers so big when the network anticipated as much as a 20 percent decrease from Beijing, which had live coverage in primetime in 2008?

Here’s a link to the piece I did today in the Chicago Tribune.

Here’s Wurtzel:

Women and children first:

There are a couple of factors (for the high ratings). No. 1, it’s women (accounting for 17.5 viewers per night, half of the audience). And it’s young women. There’s been a big increase in kids 6-12 and teenagers 12-17.

They grew up as digital babies. By putting the games on all these digital platforms, and have it be combined with social media, which the kids do every day, it has made the Olympics an incredibly relevant event. To be honest, that wasn’t the case that long ago.

Essentially, we’re cultivating the next generation of Olympic viewers.

On live streaming of events at NBCOlympics.com:

We know the people who are watching the streaming are more likely to watch in primetime. Some of them want to see the movie again. Some of them want to hear the comments and analysis. In an interesting way, streaming has served as a barker. They watch and tell their friends, ‘I can’t believe what I just saw.’ Basically, it’s 1 + 1 = 3.

On the ratings validating NBC’s primetime strategy:

Approximately 50 million Americans attended sporting events in the last six months. In five days, 158 Americans watched the Olympics on NBC. That’s says something.

What the primetime show tells us is what the audience wants. We try to give insights into sports they don’t know about. During the men’s relay, the analyst talked about the strategy involved. That was all planned. The audience love the idea of somebody putting it into context.

It’s about sports, but it is so much more than sports. Over 17 days, so many people who never engaged in sports are mesmerized by it.

Just found this spoof on something called Jest.com. All I can say is instant classic.

The phony ad mocks all the whiners of NBC’s Olympics coverage. NBC said it had nothing to do with the ad. Obviously, though, the network had to enjoy the premise.

Jim Bell, NBC’s executive producer for the Olympics, appeared on Chris Russo’s afternoon show on Mad Dog Radio Tuesday.

Here are the highlights.

On the strong ratings:

Bell: They are well above what we had expected. Those expectations were largely based on the Athens Olympics, which were the last European-based Olympics, which is a situation where you know you’re going to be taping things to air them in primetime because it’s obviously in the middle of the night [in Europe] during primetime in the United States. And in Beijing, as you know, we had just the incredible advantage of showing all those great swimming races and some of the gymnastics live because the time difference was so extreme. And so we thought if we can kind of keep it where we did in Athens that’s going to be a big win. Well, we’ve gone well beyond that and we’ve still got a long way to go here but the early results have just been hugely, hugely satisfying.

On tape delay in primetime:

Bell: When a company invests the kind of money that we have in the Olympics we have absolutely every right to protect that investment. It’s the video, it’s the sports, it’s those kinds of things. We’ve tried to utilize new technology to stream everything live, all the events live for the hard core sports fan. But the fact is, and the numbers would seem to bear this out, there’s still a huge audience out there of people who want to watch this stuff at a time when it is convenient for them, when there are mass audiences, when people can gather around and watch TV, and one of the last great family viewing events out there.

You’ve got a family, Chris, you know what it’s like. I’ve got young kids. One’s on the Xbox, the other’s on the iPad, the other’s on Facebook, you’re watching the Giants game. This is one thing you watch together. And if you kind of end up giving it away, some of the stuff, on TV you’re not protecting your investment and you’re not serving the audience and you’re not serving the affiliates and you’re not serving the advertisers.

******

Russo asked Bell about the report in today’s New York Daily News that NBC flew Hoda Kotb to London to take part in the Today show’s Olympic coverage because the network felt the show needed a ratings boost.

Bell: “Absolute nonsense. That’s a garbage story. Anybody who watches the show knows that we’ve been running a thing with Kathie Lee and Hoda for weeks talking about why Hoda should go to the Olympics. So I have no idea. It was pathetic reporting.”

Bell responded specifically to a source quoted in the Daily News who said, “they’re just shoehorning her into the show to help bring it alive. They called Hoda on Thursday begging her to go to London because they said it wasn’t working like they thought.”

Bell: “That’s a lie. That’s a flat-out, made-up lie. It’s a lie. Again, you look back, you go to Kathie Lee and Hod

The Olympics causes you to do strange things. I never thought I’d write this much about Guy Adams (or Guy Lewis as I originally called him before making a quick correction; remember the old Houston hoops coach?)

Anyway, we all can breath a sigh of relief because Lewis, er Adams, is back on Twitter. His account has been reinstated. It had been taken down after he posted the email address of an NBC executive. Adams has been critical of NBC’s coverage of the Olympics.

I felt Adams stepped over the line by posting the email address. However, Twitter General Counsel Alex Macgillivray did a post explaining it was wrong to suspend Adams’ account. It seems Twitter personnel encouraged NBC to file a report, a no-no.

He writes:

We’ve seen a lot of commentary about whether we should have considered a corporate email address to be private information. There are many individuals who may use their work email address for a variety of personal reasons — and they may not. Our Trust and Safety team does not have insight into the use of every user’s email address, and we need a policy that we can implement across all of our users in every instance.

 
That said, we want to apologize for the part of this story that we did mess up. The team working closely with NBC around our Olympics partnership did proactively identify a Tweet that was in violation of the Twitter Rules and encouraged them to file a support ticket with our Trust and Safety team to report the violation, as has now been reported publicly. Our Trust and Safety team did not know that part of the story and acted on the report as they would any other.

 
As I stated earlier, we do not proactively report or remove content on behalf of other users no matter who they are.  This behavior is not acceptable and undermines the trust our users have in us. We should not and cannot be in the business of proactively monitoring and flagging content, no matter who the user is — whether a business partner, celebrity or friend. As of earlier today, the account has been unsuspended, and we will actively work to ensure this does not happen again.

Twitter actually did Adams a huge favor. By suspending his account, he received more attention than he ever could have imagined. He just did a tweet about going on CNN soon. Oh joy.

As for Guy Lewis, the former coach is 90 and still lives in Houston.

What happened prior to the Missy Franklin race during primetime was a goof of Olympic sized proportions.

From Richard Sandomir of the New York Times:

As viewers waited to see her in the 100-meter backstroke final, NBC carried a promo for the “Today” show that said: “When you’re 17 years old and win your first gold medal, there’s nobody you’d rather share it with. We’re there when Missy Franklin and her parents reunite. A`Today’ exclusive.” The promo showed her holding her gold medal in the backstroke and embracing her parents. The result known—again, this was on tape so news of her victory was available for hours to whoever wanted to check—NBC returned from a commercial break and Dan Hicks said: “Missy Franklin just moments away from her first Olympic final.”

Really, how does this happen at a major network during a major telecast?

NBC said, sorry:

“Clearly that promo should not have aired at that time. We have a process in place and this will not happen again. We apologize to viewers who were watching and didn’t know the result of the race.”

*******

There has been much written about Guy Adams, a British journalist who had been ripping NBC for its coverage of the Olympics. However, NBC believed Lewis crossed the line when he printed the email address for NBC executive Gary Zenkel, telling disgruntled viewers to send complaints to him.

NBC responded by filing a complaint to Twitter, which reacted by suspending Lewis’ account.

Adams responded via email to a British paper:

But I don’t see how I broke them in this case: I didn’t publish a private email address. Just a corporate one, which is widely available to anyone with access to Google, and is identical [in form] to one that all of the tens of thousands of NBC Universal employees share. It’s no more “private” than the address I’m emailing you from right now. Either way, [it’s] quite worrying that NBC, whose parent company are an Olympic sponsor, are apparently trying (and, in this case, succeeding) in shutting down the Twitter accounts of journalists who are critical of their Olympic coverage.

Totally disagree. I don’t think it is that easy to find the address of a top NBC executive. Most people aren’t reporters, and even they have trouble finding email addresses.

I’m a right to privacy person. Zenkel conducts important business with that account. How is he supposed to find essential emails among the potentially thousands of emails he will receive from viewers?

Also, plenty of people are ripping NBC and still have their Twitter accounts. Adams shouldn’t believe he is that important.

Adams would have his account if he didn’t step over the line.