Tag Archives: NBC

NBC wins big in London, but challenges loom for future Olympics

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That’s it. You can have your life back. As the ad says, “You’re now free to move around the country.

Now the postmortem begins. Here’s my piece that ran in today’s Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune.

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With the Olympic flame going out Sunday, it won’t be long before NBC turns its attention to the 2014 Winter Games.

There’s no such thing as an extended break when you have $4.38 billion invested for the rights to the next four Olympics.

NBC will prepare for its trek to Sochi, Russia in 2014 buoyed by ratings and financial success that far exceeded expectations for London. The 17-day extravaganza shows its Olympics franchise is stronger than ever.

Challenges loom: Yet it wasn’t a completely smooth run for the network. Going forward, NBC will have to address tough questions.

The issue of tape delay figures to be a heated topic again, as Sochi is eight hours ahead of New York; nine hours ahead of Chicago; 11 for Los Angeles. Can NBC endure another Olympics ignoring demands for live coverage of marquee events?

The network also has to solve glitches that hampered live streaming of events at NBCOlympics.com. Too often, the picture froze at crucial times on various digital devices.

Ultimately, NBC still needs to overcome the perception issues. Despite the high ratings, there was significant criticism over how NBC packages its telecasts of the Olympics. #NBCFail developed a strong following on Twitter.

Lazarus responds: Mark Lazarus, working his first Olympics as NBC Sports chairman, acknowledged the network has heard the reaction that lit up social media throughout the Games.

“Some of it is fair and we are listening,” Lazarus said.

Yet Lazarus believes the critics were “a vocal minority” compared to “a silent majority” of viewers who enjoyed NBC’s coverage. The claim would seem to be supported by a poll conducted last week by the Pew Research Center for the People and Press. It said 76 percent of the 1,005 respondents described the coverage as either excellent or good.

Validated: For NBC and Lazarus, though, the ultimate validation came in the ratings. NBC expected viewership for 2012 to be down by as much as 20 percent from the 2008 Games in Beijing, which had  marquee events live in primetime. Yet despite only taped coverage in primetime this year, NBC averaged 31.5 million viewers per night through Saturday, up 12 percent from Beijing.

NBC also did strong ratings during the day and on its other platforms, including the NBC Sports Network. All told, an estimated 210 million American tuned into its coverage.

“The ratings have been very gratifying,” Lazarus said. “We exceeded everyone’s expectations, including our own.”

Instead of a projected $200 million loss, the network believes it will break even on this year’s Games. With the rights for the next four Olympics relatively flat, NBC has reason to feel good about its big investment.

“The NBC brand is strengthened by the Olympics, and the Olympics are strengthened by NBC,” Lazarus said.

Live issue: Yet NBC came up short in some people’s eyes, especially over the live issue. The network drew considerable ire for not airing high-profile races featuring Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt live during consecutive Sunday afternoon telecasts. Instead, NBC waited nearly six hours to show those events during primetime.

Lazarus is quick to point out that NBC aired more than 30 hours of live coverage daily on its platforms and that every sport was available live on NBCOlympics.com. However, he did acknowledge the network will reexamine its stance for 2014.

“We evaluate our business models all the time, and seek the best ways to satisfy the majority of viewers, as well as advertisers, and our affiliate stations,” Lazarus said. “We have to wait for the data from these Games to come in, and then we’ll make our plans accordingly.”

Lazarus also will evaluate the performance of NBCOlympics.com. It generated more than 1 billion page views. However, the network took heat for technical problems that arose due to the unprecedented amount of live coverage.

“You can’t simulate the Olympic Games,” Lazarus said. “After the first weekend, in relative terms, we had very few issues. The evidence is in the length and amount of live streaming as the Games went on—the numbers are staggering.”

On to Sochi: Indeed, these Olympics marked a transition of sorts. The impact of the digital component, from social media giving a wider voice for critics to watching a 100-meter race on your cell phone, was significant. Lazarus expects the evolution of new technologies to ramp up even more going into 2014 and beyond.

“We’re going to continue to innovate,” Lazarus said. “What we’re doing today is leaps and bounds ahead of  the way the Olympics were handled in Beijing. We’ve got the Olympic games through 2020, and the one thing we know for sure is that the media  landscape is going to change.”

Equestrian? Are you kidding when Bolt is running 100 meters? NBC needs to air more live during weekend

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Here is one way to get around NBC’s tape-delay approach to the Olympics.

Spend the weekend at a lake that has limited or no Internet access. Then watch NBC’s coverage at night as if it were live like I did.

What? Can’t get away for the weekend like I did. Well, then you’re screwed.

Once again, Twitter was on fire with angry tweets about NBC’s decision not to provide viewers live coverage of Usain Bolt’s bid for gold in the 100. One positive dividend is the entertaining tweets from #NBCdelayed and elsewhere:

@karljohn  Curiosity actually landed three hours ago, but NBC delayed it until after water polo.

@photoarmy1 Hey everyone NBC is showing live video footage of the landing right now….Neil Armstrong is about to step on the surface.

@bgtennisnation (Brad Gilbert)  Another major foot fault on NBC for not showing the 100 live no other major country would do that still shocked they would do that on Sunday

@EvilMikeTomlin “Usain Bolt leads the 100m after 50m, we’ll be back after this commercial break”- NBC

I think it is going to be tough for NBC to put out this fire. During the week, NBC can justify its line maintaining that people are at work and that it is more convenient for them to watch the big events at night.

But not on the weekend. In case you haven’t heard, viewers watch sports on the weekend. Lots of it.

NBC easily could have shown Bolt’s race live to a large audience. It began late in the afternoon on the East Coast in the U.S. The NFL does fairly strong ratings in that time slot with its doubleheader games.

However, instead of seeing the big race, viewers got taped coverage of equestrian. Yeah, I’m sure horse jumping was second choice on everyone’s list.

Meanwhile, Bolt’s race didn’t air until after 11 p.m. ET. By that time, you had to be on Mars not to know the outcome.

NBC definitely needs to reconsider its stance regarding weekend coverage of the Olympics. We’re conditioned to watch live on the weekend.

And don’t get started with the notion that you could have watched the race live via streaming. The picture quality isn’t nearly the same. Also, by late Sunday afternoon, most viewers need a forklift to pry them free of their big, comfy chairs. Why make it inconvenient for them to have to run to a computer?

As I said, I get the tape-delay approach during the week. But not on the weekend.

You need to be live on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, NBC.

And the latest from NBC:

Usain Bolt still leads after 75 meters. Back in a minute.

 

 

 

My first job: Costas calls minor league hockey for $30 per game in Syracuse; McCarver recalls Costas’ Uncle Lenny

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I’m launching a new feature today called My First Job.

For all the success and accomplishments people have in the business, virtually everyone had a first job that saw them start on the ground floor, or lower. Often, it was a humbling, if not sobering, experience that included a pitfall or two along the way. Call it  learning life’s lessons. The stories are pretty entertaining.

From time to time, I’m going to check in with the now rich and famous to write about where they started in the media game.

With the Olympics taking place, I figured Bob Costas would be a good first subject. Besides hosting the Olympics, he is known for his work on baseball, football, basketball and as an excellent interviewer.

Yet his first paid broadcast job came doing hockey. Here’s Costas:

I called games for the Syracuse Blazers of what was essentially the old Eastern Hockey League. It was the league that Slapshot was based on. I knew many of the people who were extras in the movie. The screenwriter (Nancy Dowd) was the sister of Ned Dowd, who was the goaltender for the Johnstown Jets. The character of Ogie Oglethorpe–and people who have watched this movie 100 times, and I know there are people like that, know this character–he’s based 100 percent on a guy named Bill Harpo, who played for the Syracuse Blazers.

I got $30 per game. I was a senior in Syracuse (Oct., ’73). They didn’t do home games; only road games on the theory that a radio broadcast would hurt the home gate. The team drew very well.

We went to Johnstown, Pa., Lewistown, Maine. They played in the (facility) where Ali knocked out Liston in ’65. We would ride the bus 7-8 hours. You’d get on the bus at 7 in morning. I’d literally be writing term papers and studying lineups at same time while riding the bus.

The learning curve was steep. Not just because I had to teach myself how to broadcast hockey, I wasn’t a polished broadcaster to begin with. I had only done college radio. I had no hockey background.

I got to where I was pretty good. I could definitely keep up with the action.

From there, almost a year later, I’m in St. Louis on KMOX doing Spirits of St. Louis basketball (of the old ABA). That team had the great Marvin Barnes.

When I got to KMOX, it was a broadcast mecca. The station had Jack Buck, Dan Kelly, Bob Starr, one of the best football announcers ever. These were people of real consequence. You had to get better in a hurry just to keep up. By osmosis, I’m sure I learned a lot and improved quicker than I otherwise would have.

Costas eventually went to NBC. In 1980, he worked his first network game with Tim McCarver, who was in his initial days as analyst after retiring from Philadelphia. McCarver remembers the experience:

Bob and I did our first game for the network (NBC) together in 1980. It was Red Sox-Angels. We were the back-up to the back-up game. Maybe six percent of the country saw it.

Bob had an Uncle Lenny. He sat in the truck, and he actually critiqued our broadcast. He was probably the only one who saw it. He said, “You could have done this better.”

I still have a picture from Bob. He signed it, “To Tim: Uncle Lenny would approve.”

We’re the only two people who know what that means.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Olympics deja vu: People whine, people watch; NBC pulls another huge rating for Tuesday night

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Buzz Bissinger weighed in on NBC’s tape-delay strategy this morning in his own unique way.

@buzzbissinger But Comcast/NBC doesn’t give shit. Ratings off the roof. All they care about. Fuck the first amendment. Fuck free speech. Fuck Comcast/NBC.

Really, Buzz, tell us how you feel. Don’t hold back.

The complaining continues, and so does NBC pulling in monster numbers for its primetime coverage.

The Twitter Olympics helped deliver NBC another huge number Tuesday night. The network pulled a 24.0 overnight last night; the best overnight for the London Olympics to date, topping the Opening Ceremony by 4%.

It was 4% higher than the Tuesday night rating for Beijing (23.0/37) & 12% higher than Athens (21.5/33).

Keep mind, NBC expected this year’s rating to be off from Beijing, which had the benefit of live coverage in primetime.

Of course, as we all know from the endless angry tweets, NBC is saving all the good stuff for primetime this year. Prior to last night’s coverage, most people knew the women won in gymnastics and that Michael Phelps had a monumental blunder in the 200 butterfly.

Yet people tuned in, thanks in part to Twitter stirring up interest in those events. Viewers wanted to see what actually happened. How did Phelps fail at the finish? How did those little girls win the gold?

People keep complaining, and people keep watching. Story of the Olympics for 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.

 

 

 

Costas keeps vow: Honors slain Israeli athletes

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Bob Costas did live up to his pledge to honor the Munich 11 during Friday’s night’s Opening Ceremonies. And given NBC’s relationship with the IOC, he walked a fine line by not hammering the committee for their refusal to have moment of silence for the slain Israeli athletes.

Here is what Costas said as the Israeli delegation walked in:

The Israeli athletes now enter behind their flag-bearer Shahar Zubari. These games mark the 40th anniversary of the 1972 tragedy in Munich, when 11 Israeli coaches and athletes were murdered by Palestinian terrorists. There have been calls from a number of quarters for the IOC to acknowledge that, with a moment of silence at some point in tonight’s ceremony.

The IOC denied that request, noting it had honored the victims on other occasions. And, in fact, this week (IOC President) Jacques Rogge led a moment of silence before about 100 people in the Athlete’s Village. Still, for many, tonight, with the world watching, is the true time and place to remember those who were lost, and how and why they died.

Then there was about 6 seconds of silence before Costas went to commercial.

It was exactly what I expected. Some people might have wanted a longer moment of silence, but Costas made his point.

 

 

$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.

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

Jewish Federations official: Bob Costas, NBC should ‘do right thing’ on honoring Munich 11

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The Jewish Federations of North America expect Bob Costas to honor his pledge to observe a moment of silence for the Munich 11 during the opening ceremonies at the Olympics.

“We encourage (Costas) and NBC to do the right thing,” said William Daroff of the Jewish Federation.

Daroff spoke on a Jewish Federations conference call this morning. It included several members of Congress and Anke Spitzer, widow of slain Israeli coach Andre Spitzer. They are working to have an official moment of silence for the slain athletes included during the ceremonies.

Costas and NBC were lauded several times on the call for Costas’ strong stance on the issue. Costas is outraged at the International Olympic Committee’s refusal to observe the 40th anniversary of the tragic event.

However, I pointed out to officials Costas’ plan regarding the opening ceremonies isn’t a done deal as far as NBC is concerned.

In an earlier post this morning, the network said: "Our production plans for the Opening Ceremony are still being finalized and Bob is part of that planning."

Daroff responded: "We support those who are calling on the IOC to do the right thing. Bob Costas has said he is baffled by the decision not to have a moment of silence. He is quoted as saying when the cameras show the Israeli team walk in during the opening ceremonies, he will lead a personal minute of silence.

"We're grateful to him for that desire. We know Bob Costas is a man of conscious. He is a man as good as his word. He has to work through with whatever issues he has with his employer, but we encourage him to follow through, and we encourage NBC to do the right thing."

Daroff noted the Jewish Federations wrote to NBC last month to request the network to "engage in these sort of efforts." Daroff said he never received a reply from NBC.

I asked Daroff how he would feel if NBC, not wanting to alienate the IOC, told Costas not to follow through with his pledge?

Daroff said: "Bob Costas' announcement has been a game-changer. It already changed the focus. It brought added attention to this. We encourage him and NBC to do the right thing."