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More NBC Olympic Ratings Troubles

J

Joseph_Gallant

Guest
According to this Zap 2 It.com report, NBC is continuing to experience disappointing ratings for their coverage of the Winter Olympics.

During the first hour of last night's (February 16th) prime-time coverage, the Olympics lost to both ABC's "Dancing With The Stars" and CBS' "Survivor". During the 9-9:30 P.M. (ET/PT) half-hour, the final portion of "Dancing With The Stars" outdrew the Olympics. NBC, however, won the 9:30-11 P.M. (ET/PT) portion of the evening.

During four of the first seven nights of the Games, portions of NBC's Olympic coverage have been beaten by regular programming on rival networks either in total viewers or in key demographics.

Tonight (February 17th) and tomorrow, NBC's prime-time Olympic coverage should easily win against weak competition. Tonight's coverage should get a boost from both (1) the beginning of Ice Dancing (although it's the compulsories, where all pairs ice-dance to the same music) and (2) a stunning outcome in one of today's high-profile events. I won't reveal what event it was for the benefit of those who don't want to know what it is until they see it in prime-time, but I think it's safe to say that it will receive a lot of attention and on-air time during NBC's prime-time broadcast.
 
I think NBC's really asking a lot of its viewers by stretching the skating past 11 PM, though the last four skates aired uninterrupted (11-11:30 pm roughly). Popular as the skating may be, people still need their beauty sleep.
 
If the skating aired live it would be on between 3 and 5 p.m. EST. That's 9 to 11 p.m. in Turin. Some of the skaters have been on the ice as late as 11:15 p.m., Turin time. The skating is airing live in many parts of the world. BBC 2 airs much of it live in prime time. CBC is airing it live nationwide, no matter what time of day it is in Canada. Is NBC ever going to show it live? Yeah, probably in 2010 when the games come to Vancouver. Other than that don't hold your breath.




> I think NBC's really asking a lot of its viewers by
> stretching the skating past 11 PM, though the last four
> skates aired uninterrupted (11-11:30 pm roughly). Popular as
> the skating may be, people still need their beauty sleep.
>
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by jjjohnson on 02/17/06 08:15 PM.</FONT></P>
 
Thats not the only thing thats hurting NBC's broadcast, and you can thank the internet for that.
 
I'm beginning to think that instead of having (most of) it's local affiliates air "Olympic Zones" shows at 7:30 P.M. ET/PT, perhaps NBC should have had prime-time Olympic coverage start at 7 or 7:30 P.M. ET/PT.

With the earlier start, affiliates' late news might have started on schedule at 11 P.M., and perhaps the prime-time coverage would have more viewers since people who not have had to stay up late to see U.S. medialists.

Additionally, the prime-time coverage would have had a half-hour or one-hour "jump" on the start of prime-time on other networks. Maybe a lot of people would have tuned-into the Olympics at 7 or 7:30, thinking they could have switched to "American Idol" at 8, but becoming so engrossed in the Olympic coverage that they stay tuned to NBC until 11 or their bedtime.

Even with local "Olympic Zone" shows, what would stop NBC from starting prime-time coverage at 7:30 ET/PT with "Olympic Zone" shows at 7 ET/PT??
 
> Thats not the only thing thats hurting NBC's broadcast, and
> you can thank the internet for that.
>
When ABC had the Olympic torch, the results were embargoed until they ran on the net at night. CBS had ratings problems when the did the winter games from
Europe. Maybe not as bad as now, but NBC is still doing pretty well on some of the nights when their shows don't do as well.
 
> When ABC had the Olympic torch, the results were embargoed
> until they ran on the net at night.

This was before the Internet. It was much easier to avoid Olympic results of events that would air on tape later that day/evening.

I wonder if NBC might adjust their Olympic website for the rest of these Games so that results of events not yet broadcast on NBC (or it's cable sisters) do not appear on the homepage.

If my memory serves me correct, NBC's Olympic website during the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney did not list any results of events until they had been televised by NBC (on the East Coast) or it's cable sister networks. BTW, only one event from Sydney aired live on NBC: the championship game of men's basketball, which was played early in the afternoon (local time in Sydney) on the final Sunday of the Games; it took place while NBC was broadcasting their prime-time coverage on Saturday night (thanks to the time difference). A few other events (like the women's softball championship game) were broadcast on a five-or-six-hour tape-delay; most events were broadcast 16 to 20 hours after they took place.

By contrast, most events shown on NBC from Turin/Torino are being shown seven to fourteen hours after they take place.
 
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