And you thought Michael Phelps was the only one breaking Olympic records Tuesday night.
In a ratings coup for NBC, the network nabbed a 24.0 overnight rating on Tuesday night, good for the best such night of any Olympics ever held abroad, marking a 4% increase from Beijing and a 12% jump from Athens.
Here’s the translation: 24% of households in the top 56 urban markets was watching as Team USA dominated their way to gymnastics gold, Alison Schmitt fought her way to her first gold medal (and a new Olympic record) in the 200 Freestyle final, and Michael Phelps swam his way to Olympic history, becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time. To put this figure in perspective, consider this: decisive Game 5 of the NBA finals nabbed a 12.6; decisive Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final garnered a 4.0; and Tim Tebow’s nine-second-overtime wildcard win over the Steelers earned a 25.9.
But these numbers are even more surprising in light of the tape-delay controversy taking the microbloggingworld by storm.
Exacerbated by the time-lagged Opening Ceremonies, satirized by the @NBCDelayed Twitter parody account, and epitomized by the Today show promo that spoiled the results of the yet-to-air women’s 100M backstroke, NBC’s decision to defer each day’s major event coverage to primetime has attracted its fair share of critics. Most notable? The Independent’s Guy Adams, who found his Twitter account suspended after posted the (publicly available) email address of NBC Olympics president Gary Zenkel, urging viewers to voice their complaints. (For the record, the suspension was Twitter’s idea, and it has since been reactivated).
NBC’s rationale for the time-delay decision is hard to argue with. The network stands to gain far higher ratings, and in turn, far better advertising revenue, at 9 PM than at 9 AM, revenue that they desperately need after paying over a billion dollars for TV rights to the 2012 Olympics. (In comparison, Canadian networks paid $153 million combined for the rights to both the 2010 Winter Olympics and this summer’s games). As NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus bluntly put it, “As programmers, we are charged to manage the business. And this is a business. It’s not everyone’s inalienable right to get whatever they want… We are charged with making smart decisions for our company, for our shareholders, and to present the product the way we believe is best.”
Besides, with multiple events available via alternative channels, every event (well, except the Opening Ceremonies) has technically been available in real time. Between NBC’s affiliate networks, no fewer than six of which air the “lesser” events throughout the day, and the smartphone/tablet/online option showing a no-frills version of even the highest profile events, access certainly isn’t lacking.
Which makes it even more puzzling how NBC is posting record-breaking numbers when a decent number of viewers have already watched the headline events during daylight hours. So what’s behind the staggering, if mystifying, figures?
I could claim that a once-every-four-years event like the Summer Olympics was destined to defy broadcast logic, feeding viewers’ appetite via a network model that would never fly in any professional US sport. (Just try to imagine West Coast residents sitting down to watch the Superbowl three hours after it ended.) Or I could contend that despite today’s unemployment rates, many Americans still go to work every day and, much to their employers’ delight, are actually doing their jobs instead of logging on to the Olympics simulcast. Or I could get all philosophical on you and postulate that a politically- and economically-splintered America is desperate to find something to finally unite the nation.
But I’m not going to go there. Instead, let’s consider the not-insignificant qualitative difference between the live-feed coverage and the primetime airing. Between the uncontrollable choppiness, the oft-blurry picture, and the unexpected system crashes that come at the very moments you most want to watch, the drawbacks of the online stream outweigh the live-access advantage it holds over the nighttime telecast. Consider the primetime experience: the American broadcasters’ passionate commentary; the more varied crowd shots creating deeper visual interest; the juxtaposition of competitive events with biographical and informational highlight packages. Maybe NBC’s strategy is actually what its US audience wants.
The downside that comes with all of this, of course, is that NBC can tailor the telecast to their needs, as they did with the women’s gymnastics final in an attempt to maintain the competitive tension between the Russian and American squads. Nonetheless, there’s a reason why NBC is breaking broadcast records: for a superior viewing experience.
Still, looking beyond the quality, the fact that 24% of urban households are sitting down to watch events whose outcomes are already known is bigger than the game itself. In fact, it marks a shifting landscape in the world of televised sports.
In an era of constant information, readily available and instantly accessible, we have become an increasingly impatient, instant gratification-geared nation. And because of the overwhelming volume of information right at our fingertips, today’s sports spectator has one of two options: maintain the same qualitative focus on a select number of athletes, teams, or sports, or sacrifice didactic depth for informational breadth.
NBC’s recent ratings success indicates that more American viewers, at least from an Olympic perspective, actually prefer the latter. We don’t mind the condensed telecast, or the pre-packaged clips, or the oft-fabricated tension. In fact, we prefer it.
And it’s precisely that highlight-centric mentality that’s keeping NBC from taking the logical next step: airing the events both live and in primetime (as the ESPN-ABC tandem does with many golf tournaments). Because the moment that NBC broadcasts a competition on its network, other non-rights holders are entitled to run clips and highlight reels as they please. Recognizing that a good part of its busy audience would opt for the abridged version if available, NBC instead chooses to postpone, provoking the ire of some, but the viewership of many.
On top of this, we have also developed into a spoiler-driven society, one in which we know a show’s plotlines, twists, and cliffhangers days, weeks, or even months before it airs. (That network TV ratings have suffered in recent years isn’t an information-leakage issue; it’s an online availability issue). Having accepted that spoilers can, and will, deflate the viewing experience, we tune in anyway, breeding a new form of dramatic tension which hinges not on what happens in the end, but how the characters will get there.
After all, isn’t that what the Olympics is all about? More so than in any other sporting event, the backstory is just as important as, if not more significant than, the match itself. Which is why learning the race results hours before they air on NBC isn’t stopping the average viewer from tuning in anyway. We still want to be a part of the journey to finish, be it a thrilling victory or an agonizing defeat. In fact, the audience needs the network’s context clues so desperately that we often don’t recognize it. Ask anyone who has attended an Olympics event in person and they’ll tell you that aside from the “I was there when…” assertion that comes with it, the live experience is inferior to watching it on TV. (Maybe that’s why so many seats have been empty).
So while NBC’s broadcast approach and the ensuing controversy are making waves, the broadcast records underscore the Olympic appeal: win or lose, how they got to, or fell short of, the medal stand is what really matters. And it’s ultimately what we the viewers, especially in today’s sports media environment, truly care about as well.
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