Category Archives: NBC

Stop complaining: NBC tape-delay strategy delivers huge ratings

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Here are a couple things you need to know: NBC does not operate as a not-for-profit. And a large portion of the massive Olympics audience is made up of non-traditional sports viewers who could care less about watching tape delay in prime time.

So go ahead and complain all you want about NBC saving the best stuff for primetime during the Olympics. While you whine, NBC is laughing all the way to the ratings bank.

Nothing validates NBC’s tape-delay strategy more than the huge ratings for its primetime coverage. The network is breaking all sorts of records.

From NBC:

Through the first three nights of the London Olympics, NBC is averaging 35.8 million viewers, the best through the first weekend for any Summer Olympics in history (since the 1960 Rome Olympics, the first televised Olympics), 1.4 million more than the 1996 Atlanta Olympics (34.4 million), and five million more viewers than 2008 Beijing Olympics (30.6 million).

Keep in mind, NBC expected ratings to be off from Beijing, which did have live coverage of events in primetime. With such a strong start, this could be a highly successful Olympics for the network

NBC received a valuable endorsement for its primetime approach from CBS Corp CEO Leslie Moonves. From Broadcasting & Cable:

“They had no alternative to do that. What are they going to do in primetime? They would have had to show events at 5 o’clock in the morning,” Moonves told B&C. “They don’t happen that way. If you don’t want to know the result, don’t go online. If you want to know the result, go online. But I don’t know what people expected of them and I think they’re doing a very good job of balancing it. I really do.”
Moonves also said that if the Olympics aired on CBS, he would most likely employ the same tape-delay strategy to preserve the primetime viewership.
“I’m sure it took a lot of thought went into it, but I think almost definitely we would have done the same thing,” he said. “I think they’re handling it very well, I really do, I think they’re doing a good job.”

As I wrote last week, according to NBC’s statistics, nearly half of the overall viewership of the Olympics is made up of people who never watch one minute of ESPN during the year. These aren’t typical sports fans who are scanning the various sites looking for the latest news and results in baseball, football, etc.

They are mostly women who tune in to watch the stories and drama of this once-every-four-years phenomenon. They couldn’t tell you Derek Jeter from Russell Westbrook, but they were heartbroken for Jordyn Wieber Sunday.

As long as the ratings keep coming in, NBC has no reason to shift from its strategy. And if you want to complain. Go ahead. It’s an Olympic tradition.

 

 

 

Technical glitches from NBCOlympics.com shouldn’t be unexpected

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My friend, Ira, who has way too much time on his hands, was watching Michael Phelps compete in a heat Monday afternoon on his cell phone, a Samsung Galaxy S2. As the race was about 10 yards from the finish, the screen went blank. A message then appeared: “Exit app. Start over.”

Ira was ticked off. “It could have at least let me watch the end of the race,” he said.

Ira, though, has a computer background. He’s not surprised.

Clearly, the technology isn’t there yet to support such a massive on-line extravaganza at NBCOlympics.com. Unlike television, there still are too many variables when it comes to Internet providers, mobile devices, individual computers, etc. It all adds up to plenty of room for error.

My computer seized up on me Sunday morning. I never got to watch the end of that badminton match. By the way, I’m not kidding: Check out the badminton. Some amazing points. Not like you played in your backyard.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir did a piece on the streaming problems. He writes:

(People) want what they want when they want it — and they don’t want the video to freeze, skip, pixelate or buffer excessively. Some who wanted to watch Phelps race Ryan Lochte live (many hours before they raced, on delay, on NBC) were disappointed when the live streams seized up as if hexed by an NBC rival.

Twitter has lit up with similar complaints — some satisfied customers have tweeted, too — from fans who don’t want to hear that the trouble might be on their end: their broadband service’s bandwidth; the age of their computers and mobile devices; thunderstorms; the number of people in an apartment building also streaming; or interference in the ionosphere from Ryan Seacrest’s Freedom Tower-size pompadour.

And he has this quote from NBC’s Greg Hughes:

We’re enjoying tremendous success with our digital offerings. And yes, there have been some difficulties. Some on our end; some on the users’ end. And we’re working around the clock to give everyone a good digital experience. A small number of complaints, relative to the huge number of users, is a very positive early sign.

Memo to Greg: It’s is 4:29 Central Monday, and NBCOlympic.com is freezing up on me for beach volleyball. By the way, my Internet provider is Comcast, which just happens to own NBC.

As I said, it’s not perfect.

 

 

Going into a media bubble to watch NBC tape-delay; can’t do it for remainder of Olympics

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I made the decision Sunday afternoon. I wanted to watch the Olympics in primetime without knowing the results of the big swimming races.

So I literally went into a media-proof bubble. Twitter definitely was out. I sent out a tweet apologizing to my thousands (tens?) of followers, who hang on my every word. No classic 140-character gems from me for the remainder of the day.

ESPN? Nope. I definitely would find out the results via the ever-present crawl. Obviously, I stayed away from the Internet.

I even carefully avoided the television at the bar when I picked up carryout at P.F. Chang’s.

Ultimately, I watched the men’s relay and other swimming races as if they were airing live. And I enjoyed NBC’s tape-delay telecast.

But I can’t do this every night. That’s the difference with the concept of tape-delay now compared to 1996 or even 2000. Back then, you didn’t have to work as hard to avoid hearing the results.

However, in the new media age, there are too many places where you can find out what happened, even by accident. And we’ve become creatures of habit. We need our Twitter, Facebook, sports sites, and all the other wonders of the Internet.

I can’t silence my computer and iPhone every afternoon just so I can experience the drama of the vault in women’s gymnastics in the evening. Not going to happen. The addiction is too strong.

I’ll watch primetime, because that’s what I do. But I won’t enjoy it as much if I know who won and lost.

Here’s a thought: Perhaps somebody can develop an app that blocks your brain from hearing Olympics results. I’m sure work already is taking place on that concept.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NBC primetime off to good start; big ratings for first night

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Remember, NBC Sports chairman Mark Lazarus said NBC’s primetime ratings might be lower than 2008 Beijing, which had some live coverage thanks to the time difference.

Well, that wasn’t the case on night 1.

From NBC:

  • Last night, the first night of competition, NBC drew an 18.0 overnight rating and 33 share (8:30-11:30 p.m. ET/PT), the best overnight rating for the first night of competition for a non-U.S. Summer Olympics ever.
  • 18.0 Overnight Rating and 33 Share is 8% Higher than Beijing, 22% Higher than Athens, the Last European Olympics.
  • Last night, which featured Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte facing off head-to-head in the 400 IM (shown on delay in primetime and live on NBCOlympics.com), is 8% higher than the first night of competition for the opening Saturday night of the 2008 Beijing Olympics (16.6/30), when Michael Phelps won the first of his eight gold medals. The first Saturday night in Beijing was live to the Eastern and Central time zones in the U.S.
  • Last night’s overnight is 22% higher than the first night of competition at the 2004 Athens Games (14.8/25), the last European Olympics.
  • The 18.0/33 overnight is the second-highest for the first day of competition of ANY non-U.S. Olympics (Winter or Summer), only eclipsed by the first night of the tabloid-fueled Lillehammer Games (21.0/34) which featured the Opening Ceremony.

OVERNIGHTS FOR FIRST NIGHT OF COMPETITON (NON-U.S. SUMMER GAMES):

1. London – 2012 18.0/33 NBC
2. Seoul – 1988 17.1/32 NBC
3. Beijing – 2008 16.6/30 NBC
4. Barcelona – 1992 16.5/32 NBC
5. Sydney – 2000 15.6/28 NBC
6. Athens – 2004 14.8/25 NBC

OVERNIGHTS FOR FIRST NIGHT OF COMPETITON (U.S. SUMMER GAMES):

1. Los Angeles – 1984 29.5/55 ABC
2. Atlanta – 1996 19.9/39 NBC

TOP 20 METERED MARKETS FOR FIRST NIGHT OF COMPETITION:

1. Salt Lake City 23.9/46

2. San Diego 22.8/43

3. Kansas City 22.4/42

4. Columbus 21.5/39

5. Ft. Myers 21.3/40

6. Milwaukee 20.6/38

7. Denver 20.5/44

8. Indianapolis 20.4/39

9. Sacramento 20.2/41

10. Nashville 19.6/34

11. Oklahoma City 19.2/32

12. St. Louis 18.9/35

13. Richmond 18.7/33

14. Portland 18.5/41

T15. San Francisco 18.4/40

T15. Boston 18.4/36

T17. Norfolk 18.3/30

T17. Albuquerque 18.3/34

T17. Jacksonville 18.3/31

20. Phoenix 18.1/32

 

Forget live: Tape delay works for Opening Ceremonies for NBC

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The ratings validated NBC’s decision to show last night’s Opening Ceremonies on tape delay in primetime.

From @nbcsportspr:

  23.0/40 Overnight for Opening Ceremony on NBC best for a non-US Olympics ever;  up 7% from Beijing (21.5), 28% from Athens (18.0).

That’s a huge number. And it wouldn’t have occurred if NBC aired the Opening Ceremonies live in the afternoon.

The fact is, more people can watch at night, especially for a telecast that stretched more than three hours.

I was working Friday afternoon, as were many, many other people. Tape delay was fine by me.

 

 

Fire up the remote: Your Olympics TV guide

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For those of you who watch sports the old-fashioned way on a television, here’s how the schedule breaks down for NBC and its networks.

NBC

NBC will broadcast 272.5 hours of coverage.

NBC will again be divided into three day parts: daytime, primetime and late night. NBC’s primetime program, featuring the marquee events such as swimming, gymnastics, track and field and beach volleyball, will air 8-11:30 p.m. (ET) on most nights.

Daytime coverage has increased significantly for London. Coverage will begin on most weekdays at 10 a.m., immediately following Today, which is originating from London. On weekends, NBC’s daytime coverage will begin as early as 5 a.m. A one-hour late-night show will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of the primetime program.

NBC Sports Network

NBC Sports Network will serve as the home to U.S. team sports, with 292.5 hours of total coverage from 2012 London Olympics this summer, including 257.5 hours of original programming – an average of more than 14 hours per day – the most-ever for an Olympic cable network.

On most days, coverage will air from 4 a.m.–8 p.m., which covers the live Olympic day in London.

NBC Sports Network coverage, originating from Olympic Park in London, will air up to 20 medal rounds and 22 Olympic sports, including Team USA basketball, women’s soccer and field hockey.

MSNBC

MSNBC will carry 155.5 hours of a wide variety of long-form Olympic programming over 19 days. The channel will air up to 18 medal rounds and 20 Olympic sports, from badminton to basketball to soccer to wrestling.

On most weekdays, coverage will air from 9 a.m.-6 p.m.. There will be longer programming windows on Saturdays and Sundays.

CNBC

CNBC will serve as the home of Olympic boxing this summer, including the debut of women’s boxing. The channel will televise 73 hours of boxing coverage over 16 days — every day from July 28-August 12 — from elimination bouts to the men’s and women’s finals. Same-day coverage will air from 5-8 p.m. during the week, with six hours of live coverage airing each day on the weekends. This marks the fourth consecutive Summer Games that CNBC has featured Olympic boxing.

Bravo

Bravo will act as the home of Olympic tennis this summer. The channel will televise 56 hours of long-form tennis coverage over seven days, from July 28-August 3. Live coverage will air from early morning until mid-afternoon on most days.

 

 

 

$1 billion doesn’t go as far as it used to; Why NBC still bullish on Olympics despite losing money

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NBC announced this week that it has sold $1 billion of national television and digital advertising for its coverage of the London Olympic Games. That’s the most ever for an Olympic Games and approximately $150 million more than the total for NBC’s coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

But here’s the bad news: NBC spent nearly $1.2 million for the rights to the games and will incur another $100 million in production costs.

Now it’s hard to believe that you could generate $1 billion worth of advertising and still lose money, but I’m guessing network executives felt that way in the 50s when the figure was $1 million.

It’s all relative.

NBC, though, believes it actually has reason to be bullish on its latest Olympic investment. After London, the network will shell out $4.38 billion for the 2014 Winter, 2016 Summer, 2018 Winter and 2020 Summer Games.

Technically, the fees per Olympics stays relatively flat. However, the two Winter Olympics are in Sochi, Russia and South Korea. It remains to be seen if those games will produce $1 billion-plus in revenue.

Steve Burke, the CEO for NBC Universal, thinks the company made a good deal.

“We thought getting four games rather than two was a big, big deal,” Burke said.  “We wanted to make sure that we got the games at a price that would not cause this company every two years to lose a lot of money.  And we believe we’ve done that. The way to think about the four future games is, we get those at the same price that we get London, adjusted for the fact that some are winter and some are summer. Basically, unlike other sports where there are very, very large increases in rights fees when they get renewed, we got a chance to get four more games at roughly the same price.

“So over time, as these properties become more and more valuable in a world that is increasingly fragmented, and over time as you get some media inflation, some other things, we think we’re going to make money on these games.”

It goes beyond money for NBC. Clearly, the Olympics are part of the fabric for everyone associated with the network.

Burke talked of his anxiety during the bid process that he endured in 2011 in Switzerland. He had just come on board after Comcast purchased NBC.

“We knew that it would be a binary moment,” he said. “We would either come home with the Games, or we would come home without the Games, and as the new sort of people showing up in this building, it would have been an awful thing to come home without the Games.”

Burke and NBC wound up with four more Games. It’s a big, big deal in more ways than one.

As Burke says, “They’re very, very much tied up with the brand of NBC, the way that the, this company operates, the soul of the company, the culture of the company.”

And it all begins tonight with 17 straight days of the Olympics.

 

 

 

‘Astonishing and memorable moment’ promised for Opening Ceremony

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Yes, yes, we love surprises.

Jim Bell, NBC’s executive producer for the Olympics, is promising a big moment during tomorrow night’s opening ceremonies in London.

Bell said, “One moment I think will be among the more astonishing and memorable in Opening Ceremony history, one that people will be talking about for years to come.”

Of course, the all-time Opening Ceremony surprise occurred when Muhammad Ali appeared from nowhere to light the flame in Atlanta in 1996.

What will be Friday’s surprise? Queen Elizabeth, at age 86, vaulting up the stairs with the torch in hand?

Actually, the drama of the big moment could get ruined for a lot of people in the U.S. The Opening Ceremony will be aired on tape on NBC. With a five-hour time difference to the East Coast, there’s a good chance the surprise will get out.

 

 

 

NBC producer coy about Costas moment of silence for Israeli athletes

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From listening to Jim Bell, NBC’s executive producer for the Olympics, I’d say Bob Costas definitely will speak out against the IOC’s refusal to have a moment of silence for the Munich 11 during NBC’s telecast of  opening ceremonies Friday.

But it remains to be seen whether Costas will go through with his vow to have a moment of silence to honor the athletes.

When pressed about the issue during a conference call Thursday, Bell said, “You’ll have to watch the coverage.”

Bell spoke of the coverage regarding the controversial issue being “measured and balanced,” and that it would be handled “respectfully.”

“If anybody knows how to handle that situation, to have the right tone, it would be Bob and (Matt Lauer),” Bell said.

Bell also stressed that even though NBC has a multi-billion dollar relationship with the IOC, it won’t shy away from criticizing the organization.

“We have a good relationship with the IOC,” Bell said. “But we will cover the Olympics as we want to cover them.”

 

 

 

What live means on NBCOlympics.com: No announcers at times; Gold Zone

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The operative word for the Olympics will be live. Or as executive producer Jim Bell says, “Lots of live.”

For the first time ever, every minute of every event at London will be available live at NBCOlympics.com. If you want equestrian at 4 a.m., you’ve got it.

Gone are the days when former NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol resisting live online coverage of premier Olympic events, fearing it would hurt ratings for the daily prime-time telecasts.

His successor, Mark Lazarus, contends with the advances in technology and with the way people consume information, live for 2012 was the only way to go. Unlike the Beijing Olympics in 2008, where NBC was able to show some live events such as swimming in prime-time, that won’t be the case for London.

“The decision was made because we think that as times have changed there is a sense to satisfy all the people [using digital devices],” Lazarus said. “The avid fan has that need of immediacy. We are going to satisfy that request.”

As a result, more than 3,500 hours of Olympics will be streaming to computers and mobile devices throughout the world. If you’re registered, you can watch Honduras-Morocco now in men’s soccer.

I mean, does it get better than Honduras-Morocco over breakfast?

What does it all mean? Here is some important things do know:

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Gary Zenkel, NBC’s president for the Olympics, said at peak times the network will offer as many as 40 concurrent sports via live streaming. Think about that: 40.

“That means if there are four simultaneous tennis matches at the All England Club, they will be available,” Zenkel said.

However, if you’re watching 40 events at one time, probably time reassess your life.

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If it sounds too daunting to navigate through 40 events, you will have some guidance. NBCOlympics.com will have its version of the NFL’s Red Zone. Gold Zone will take viewers to marquee action, such as event finals or overtime action in games as well as headline events.

However, Gold Zone will be without an anchor. If it was me, I would have tabbed my hero, Red Zone anchor Scott Hanson.

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Live streaming doesn’t mean you will be hearing NBC’s Dan Hicks if you tune into swimming. Lazarus said world feed announcers will be used in some cases, and for other events, there might only be graphics without any play-by-play and commentary.

So there’s a good chance you only will see horses jumping around if you tune into equestrian at 4 a.m.

NBC still is saving its best production for the prime-time audience. Lazarus believes the vast majority of live-stream viewers still will want tune in later to hear the analysis from NBC’s announcing teams. If anything, he said, the prime-time telecasts should receive a boost from people using social media to build excitement for an event.

“When we ask people, ‘When are you available to watch an event?’ The answer is after dinner,” Lazarus said. “This has been a successful formula. We shouldn’t change what’s been successful.”

Yes, some of the Ebersol model lives on.

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Viewers who want to access the live coverage at NBCOlympics.com will have to verify that they are either cable, satellite or Telco subscribers. Zenkel estimates nearly 90% of country will be eligible for the live streaming.

Also, registration is easy, and it’s a good idea to do it in advance. And one key point: Be sure to know your sign-in information for your provider.

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You won’t be able to live streaming for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. NBC is saving both for exclusive primetime coverage.

Again, the Ebersol model lives.

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During an NBC news conference in New York last month, Zenkel pulled out an iPad, calling it and smartphones game-changers in Olympic consumption. Zenkel said NBCOlympics.com produced 52 million unique users during the Beijing Olympics. Thanks to the instant access from new technology, that number could be a speed bump in 2012.

Zenkel wouldn’t make a prediction, but he said, “The potential traffic is staggeringly high.”

NBC has various apps for mobile devices. Check out NBCOlympics.com for more information.

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Will NBCOlympics.com be able to handle that kind of traffic and show 40 events at one time without any glitches? We’ll find out soon enough.