NBC’s live coverage of Beijing Olympics, an unqualified success, 30 million viewers a night
Live Coverage of Beijing Olympic Closing Ceremony and Opening Ceremonies: In a summer programming schedule dominated by reruns and humiliation-based game shows like ABC’s “Wipeout” and G-4’s “Hurl!” (a show in which “the last contestant to spew” wins awesome prizes), it’s little wonder that NBC’s coverage of the Beijing Olympics has been an unqualified success, attracting some 30 million viewers a night, and millions more to its cable networks, MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Oxygen and Telemundo. And that’s not even counting the millions of page views and downloads at NBCOlympics.com or the sports fans who shelled out big bucks for 24-hour high-definition Olympic coverage on the pay-channel Universal HD. All in all, by the time the Olympic flame is extinguished and this Sunday’s closing ceremony ends, NBC will have aired an unprecedented 3,600 hours of Olympic coverage online and over seven television networks.
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Associated PressÂ
Net Gain: Beach volleyballer Misty May-Treanor
With this degree of coverage and NBC’s profits from the 17-day Games expected to surpass $100 million, you can’t blame Jeff Zucker, CEO of NBC Universal, for trumpeting his company’s success as proof positive that network television can still compete in our YouTube world. “When you have an event that transcends popular culture,” he told reporters last week, finding it difficult to contain his glee, “the only place you can aggregate these audiences is network television.”
He’s right. Our laptops, iPhones and BlackBerrys, notwithstanding, there’s still nothing quite as enjoyable (or as user friendly) as plopping down on the couch, preferably with the family and/or dog, and tuning in to your local NBC affiliate to watch, say, the adorable and compact U.S. gymnast Shawn Johnson win a gold on the balance beam, or the veteran beach volleyballer Misty May-Treanor dive for a match-winning save.
In a world that becomes more specialized by the moment, with a thousand channels to choose from and a zillion Web sites to fit your needs, the networks are perhaps the last place where we can all watch the same thing at the same time and talk about it the next day around the proverbial watercooler.
As for “events that transcend popular culture,” well, outside of papal visits, natural disasters or terrorist attacks, sports are about all that’s left. The days of royal weddings and benefit concerts attracting millions of viewers are over. But this year’s barnburner of a Super Bowl between the New York Giants and the undefeated New England Patriots was the second most watched TV program ever, with 97.5 million viewers.
Sports “transcend” because we all know the rules. A marathon is a marathon whether you’re in ancient Greece, Tehran or Toronto. We may be living in a world of cultural relativism, but there’s no such thing as sports relativism. Aside from the subjective nature of gymnastics scoring, where deductions are sometimes in the eye of the beholder, a false start is a false start, a finish line is a finish line. The quest for excellence is universal, regardless of what flag you compete under.
This is why watching Lolo Jones stumble over the ninth hurdle, or seeing Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang walk away from the race of his life due to injury, is so heart wrenching. We understand winning and losing; we’re genetically hardwired to strive for and empathize with what Jim McKay, the legendary sportscaster who passed away this summer, so famously called “the thrill of victory… and the agony of defeat.”
Still, most Americans, as NBC executives are well aware, are not terribly interested in the medal count of women’s weightlifting. Rather, they’re fascinated with Michael Phelps claiming his “place in history” by surpassing Mark Spitz as the all-time Olympic gold-medal winner in any one Olympic Games (in case you haven’t heard, the 23-year-old Mr. Phelps won eight gold medals in the swimming competition). As Bob Costas enthusiastically informed viewers in a sit-down with Mr. Phelps, the Olympic swimmer had surpassed Disney’s the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus in popularity on YouTube — a truly “Phelpsian” feat.
The comparison may sound inane, but from NBC’s perspective, it’s what coverage of the Games is all about. Americans over 40 may sit in front of their TVs and watch, but millions of younger Americans are going online for live video streaming and checking medal results, scores and schedules on their cellphones. “By piping the Games through all of NBC’s platforms — broadcast, cable and digital — the company has provided its viewers with multiple platforms to experience the Olympic Games as well as providing its advertisers with a broader audience,” says Michael J. Wolf, former president of MTV Networks. “You can expect that other television companies will execute a similar multiplatform strategy.”
Indeed, Disney, ESPN and all the major networks already are. This Olympics, NBC aired some 2,400 hours of its coverage on online, and 1,200 on its television networks. Who knows? By the time NBC Universal airs the London Olympics in 2012, you might prefer to watch the entire Games from your iPhone or BlackBerry — without ever turning on the old boob-tube.
One thing’s fairly certain, however, given NBC Universal’s commitment to a multiplatform approach, the 2012 coverage will likely be impressive, if not downright “Phelpsian.”
Live Coverage of Beijing Olympic Closing Ceremony: In a summer programming schedule dominated by reruns and humiliation-based game shows like ABC’s “Wipeout” and G-4’s “Hurl!” (a show in which “the last contestant to spew” wins awesome prizes), it’s little wonder that NBC’s coverage of the Beijing Olympics has been an unqualified success, attracting some 30 million viewers a night, and millions more to its cable networks, MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Oxygen and Telemundo. And that’s not even counting the millions of page views and downloads at NBCOlympics.com or the sports fans who shelled out big bucks for 24-hour high-definition Olympic coverage on the pay-channel Universal HD. All in all, by the time the Olympic flame is extinguished and this Sunday’s closing ceremony ends, NBC will have aired an unprecedented 3,600 hours of Olympic coverage online and over seven television networks.
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