Post by Sal-Radio on Aug 12, 2012 23:41:49 GMT -5
The network was blowing a little smoke before the Games.
Such as when it came to the question of whether offering the Olympics' world feed live online might hurt TV ratings in prime time, when NBC's recorded coverage airs. "The party line was that we didn't think live streaming would hurt prime time and that was all well and good to say," Bell said by phone Sunday. "But if anything, it helped prime time. (Live digital) wasn't a baby step. We took a big bold swing. It worked out in itself and helped the foundation of the house - prime time."
Obviously, anything that spurs interest in the Olympics — what NBC dreads most is viewer apathy — helps because the network has a monopoly on video coverage. And NBC will get the highest prime-time ratings for a Summer Games outside the USA since Montreal in 1976 — a pre-cable era, the TV equivalent of prehistoric times. It's averaging 17.6% of U.S. TV households, up 9% from the 2008 Beijing Games and 16% from the 2004 Athens Games.
Before the Games, NBC's public comments were vaguely optimistic about whether its London ratings would top its Beijing numbers. But Bell, who is head producer of NBC's Today show and is working his ninth TV Olympics, says there was a quiet consensus that NBC would fall short.
"I thought no way," Bell says. "No way! Honest to God in my heart of hearts. Nobody, not anybody in NBC and probably nobody outside, thought it would match Beijing, where we had (Michael) Phelps swimming live and could show those incredible images of a mysterious land."
To give perspective on the reach of TV vs. digital, consider that while NBC prime time averaged 31.1 million viewers daily, online NBC averaged 8.56 million streams, which is up 133% from Beijing. But only 10 events in the London Games drew more than 1 million live streams. Then there's the money. NBC says its Olympic TV ad revenue will top $1 billion, with more than 80% of that coming from prime-time TV, and digital ad sales will be about $60 million.
Bell won't rule out that NBC, which has the Games through 2020, might someday show more events live and then air them again in prime time. But prime time, he says, remains a very important property. "And it's important to re-emphasize that a lot of the viewing public doesn't know about these sports," he adds.
Olympic TV typically has drawn more criticism, from viewers and critics, than any other genre of TV programming — and social media provide an ever-growing megaphone. As to whether NBC altered its approach during the Games because of the complaints, Bell says, "Any endeavor of this magnitude will face scrutiny, and we welcome it. But we came in with a plan, we executed it and it worked."
NBC did stick to its plan. When the tennis finals (played at Wimbledon) got star power —Serena Williams vs. Maria Sharapova and Andy Murray vs. Roger Federer — NBC decided those names could attract an audience in the morning and made the shift from live to tape, giving them Wimbledon-like coverage.
Another notable moment saw NBC giving most of the first hour of prime time — on the night after swimming ended — to a taped interview of supposedly retired Phelps. Pretty much a no-brainer given Phelps is the biggest U.S. Olympic TV star ever. So it makes sense NBC would offer him an on-air role at the 2016 Games. Bell says, "That would be something we'd chew on in the aftermath (of London). Outside of (his mom) Mrs. Phelps, nobody wants to see him swim in Rio more than us, even if it's just for a couple events."
There was another example of NBC, which says it might make a profit on London after losing $223 million in the 2010 Vancouver Games, making a decision worth another look. The USA-Japan women's soccer final aired on the cable channel NBC Sports Network (80 million U.S. households) rather than being moved to NBC (114 million households). The game drew 2.7% of U.S. households — NBCSN's best-ever rating — but that was down 63% from Japan's win vs. the USA in the 2011 World Cup final on ESPN. But the point for NBC was to promote NBCSN, formerly Versus.
Before the Games, American Idol's Ryan Seacrest was projected to be a big NBC Olympic TV star. Bell says NBC staffers were scratching their heads when they read reports that NBC wasn't giving Seacrest much airtime. Bell notes Seacrest stopped by the Today show and various other shows as well as doing prime time. He also hosted Sunday's closing ceremony with Bob Costas and Al Michaels. "He was everywhere; he just nailed it," Bell says.
Well, that's debatable. What's not: London was a harmonic convergence for NBC.
Consider that the best Olympic promo was the U.S. swim team's homemade video to the pop hit Call Me Maybe, which drew 6.2 million hits on YouTube, far more than any Olympic event. It was charming, probably better than if NBC had engineered it. Sometimes you just get lucky.
By: Michael Hiestand (USA Today)
Such as when it came to the question of whether offering the Olympics' world feed live online might hurt TV ratings in prime time, when NBC's recorded coverage airs. "The party line was that we didn't think live streaming would hurt prime time and that was all well and good to say," Bell said by phone Sunday. "But if anything, it helped prime time. (Live digital) wasn't a baby step. We took a big bold swing. It worked out in itself and helped the foundation of the house - prime time."
Obviously, anything that spurs interest in the Olympics — what NBC dreads most is viewer apathy — helps because the network has a monopoly on video coverage. And NBC will get the highest prime-time ratings for a Summer Games outside the USA since Montreal in 1976 — a pre-cable era, the TV equivalent of prehistoric times. It's averaging 17.6% of U.S. TV households, up 9% from the 2008 Beijing Games and 16% from the 2004 Athens Games.
Before the Games, NBC's public comments were vaguely optimistic about whether its London ratings would top its Beijing numbers. But Bell, who is head producer of NBC's Today show and is working his ninth TV Olympics, says there was a quiet consensus that NBC would fall short.
"I thought no way," Bell says. "No way! Honest to God in my heart of hearts. Nobody, not anybody in NBC and probably nobody outside, thought it would match Beijing, where we had (Michael) Phelps swimming live and could show those incredible images of a mysterious land."
To give perspective on the reach of TV vs. digital, consider that while NBC prime time averaged 31.1 million viewers daily, online NBC averaged 8.56 million streams, which is up 133% from Beijing. But only 10 events in the London Games drew more than 1 million live streams. Then there's the money. NBC says its Olympic TV ad revenue will top $1 billion, with more than 80% of that coming from prime-time TV, and digital ad sales will be about $60 million.
Bell won't rule out that NBC, which has the Games through 2020, might someday show more events live and then air them again in prime time. But prime time, he says, remains a very important property. "And it's important to re-emphasize that a lot of the viewing public doesn't know about these sports," he adds.
Olympic TV typically has drawn more criticism, from viewers and critics, than any other genre of TV programming — and social media provide an ever-growing megaphone. As to whether NBC altered its approach during the Games because of the complaints, Bell says, "Any endeavor of this magnitude will face scrutiny, and we welcome it. But we came in with a plan, we executed it and it worked."
NBC did stick to its plan. When the tennis finals (played at Wimbledon) got star power —Serena Williams vs. Maria Sharapova and Andy Murray vs. Roger Federer — NBC decided those names could attract an audience in the morning and made the shift from live to tape, giving them Wimbledon-like coverage.
Another notable moment saw NBC giving most of the first hour of prime time — on the night after swimming ended — to a taped interview of supposedly retired Phelps. Pretty much a no-brainer given Phelps is the biggest U.S. Olympic TV star ever. So it makes sense NBC would offer him an on-air role at the 2016 Games. Bell says, "That would be something we'd chew on in the aftermath (of London). Outside of (his mom) Mrs. Phelps, nobody wants to see him swim in Rio more than us, even if it's just for a couple events."
There was another example of NBC, which says it might make a profit on London after losing $223 million in the 2010 Vancouver Games, making a decision worth another look. The USA-Japan women's soccer final aired on the cable channel NBC Sports Network (80 million U.S. households) rather than being moved to NBC (114 million households). The game drew 2.7% of U.S. households — NBCSN's best-ever rating — but that was down 63% from Japan's win vs. the USA in the 2011 World Cup final on ESPN. But the point for NBC was to promote NBCSN, formerly Versus.
Before the Games, American Idol's Ryan Seacrest was projected to be a big NBC Olympic TV star. Bell says NBC staffers were scratching their heads when they read reports that NBC wasn't giving Seacrest much airtime. Bell notes Seacrest stopped by the Today show and various other shows as well as doing prime time. He also hosted Sunday's closing ceremony with Bob Costas and Al Michaels. "He was everywhere; he just nailed it," Bell says.
Well, that's debatable. What's not: London was a harmonic convergence for NBC.
Consider that the best Olympic promo was the U.S. swim team's homemade video to the pop hit Call Me Maybe, which drew 6.2 million hits on YouTube, far more than any Olympic event. It was charming, probably better than if NBC had engineered it. Sometimes you just get lucky.
By: Michael Hiestand (USA Today)