Three Days and Counting Until NBC Blows Olympics Coverage

Henry Blodget | August 4, 2008 12:13 PM

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UPDATE: Watch the Olympics live here

NBC is trying, we'll give them that much. They've covering 2,200 hours of Olympic events live online (albeit not the stuff you want to watch). They're also covering 3,600 hours of Olympic events on TV (albeit mostly taped). In other words, they're producing more Olympics coverage than has ever been produced before. But they're still producing it for themselves and their legacy TV business, not you.

How would NBC cover the Olympics if they put you first and didn't have a legacy business to protect? They would:

  • Make NBCOlympics.com a comprehensive schedule of each day's events, with a link to a live video feed of each. All events. 100% coverage. Searchable by day or by event with a simple toggle. For events that NBC itself is not covering, the link could go to a partner company's video. In exchange, NBC could give partners access to its own video. Note that NBC currently comes at its Olympics schedule from exactly the opposite direction--by starting with the NBC networks and then describing what each will show on any given day and time. Hate to break it to NBC, but viewers couldn't care less which network they watch on. They just want to know how/where to watch the events they want to watch. So this thinking should be inverted. (Full schedule of coverage here)
  • Note when the live feed is/was also available on TV and where/when. If it's on TV, most folks would prefer to watch it there, as long as it's not cluttered with ads and crappy commentary. If TV is still more profitable than online (it is), NBC should encourage web viewers to turn on their TVs. Or, better yet, watch both simultaneously.
  • Make NBCOlympics a wikipedia-style start-page for games, athletes, news, blogs, stats, betting, etc. This instead of the me-too "Olympics" destination it is now.

As it is, we suspect we'll spend most of the Olympics cursing NBC for forcing us to watch the Olympics according to their schedule and style, not ours.

In response, we'll also try to take advantage of the first truly global medium to see if we can find other sources for the video we want to watch. If/when we find any, we'll let you know here. (And if you're two steps ahead of us, we'd be grateful for the heads up).

UPDATE: Watch the Olympics live here

See Also: NBC Online Olympics Coverage: Ping Pong Live, Gymnastics Taped

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35 Comments

hehateme said:
Give me live streaming of track&field and basketball or i will be raising the black flag! CAPTIN COOK IS DEAD. LONG LIVE CAPTIN COOK!
thku4grace said:
Does anyone know if it is true that one must have Vista in order to download the online Olympic videos?
hehateme said:
you have to use microsoft silverlight player i think.
For the downloads, I think that's right. But let's hope to God NBC isn't forcing people to actually download stuff.
Tom Buchok (URL) said:
Henry, are there any numbers available from CBS's March Madness online approach? It is at least mildly similar to your proposal.

Does the online offering cannibalize much of the (legacy) broadcast business? Does revenue actually go up?

While a loose comparison, could shine some light onto the dollars behind a la carte, on-demand access of this stuff online.
Clyde McPhat said:
I think the dollars to CBS are very incremantal (read smallish) at the present time for those streamed games. I read somewhere this morning (paidcontent) that NBC was looking at 100 million dollars for internet ad spend on these Oly's. I would love someone to actually tell us that is a true number because that is about what ESPN.com bills in an entire year. So, I'm calling BS on those numbers and the entire artice because it also said there was a billion five being spent on advertising for these games. NFW.
Seth Barnburner (URL) said:
NBC would totally rather devote their energies to gag-in-your-mouth human interest stories than being an effective content distributor. Let's just say that I hope to avoid Matt Lauer at all costs on whatever platform I choose.
Per our earlier article:
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/4/cbs_online_viewers_worth_more_than_tv

The numbers are in for CBS's March Madness: 4.8 million viewers online vs. 132 million on TV. TV ratings were slightly down for the tourney this year, enough that we asked whether the availability of free online games were to blame.

Answer: who cares? CBS (CBS) made $4.83 in advertising per online viewer vs. $4.12 for each of its TV viewers, according to the Washington Post, citing data from CBS and ad research firm TNS.

It looks like WaPo's TV figure comes from TNS's estimate of CBS's TV ad revenue: $545 million divided by 132m total viewers. Before the tournament, CBS said it expected $21 milion in online ad revenue from the tournament, which would indicate $4.38 per online viewer. Either WaPo reversed its numbers, or CBS's online revenue actually came in at $23 million.

Either way, the point holds: CBS earned a higher CPM ($44) for online than it did on TV ($42).
Yet another reason NBC should open up its feed to online audiences: They're completely different than TV audiences. Anyone interested enough to watch a live sporting event that's happening in the middle of the night, streamed through their browser, cares about the sporting event. NBC assumes their audience doesn't care about sports, and has to be tricked into watching them via the human interest stories. Nothing wrong with that, but why not expand your reach to actual sports fans?
David (URL) said:
I’m watching every minute. Just installed the Olympics Toolbar. Kinda cool - links to news, video, photos, results, etc. across all major networks.
http://2008SummerGames.OurToolbar.com
HmmConvenient said:
My question about the live events... since I assume the Live material online will not be produced (?) won't this live coverage be happening overnight when most people are asleep?
anon said:
you do not need vista. you need sliverlight but that is a small download equivalent to flash.
Tom Buchok (URL) said:
@Peter Kafka -- thanks for the CPM breakdown. And thanks for digging into that stuff for me.

I am pretty sure that CBS uses MLB.tv's platform for delivering those games over those 10 days -- some difficult numbers to find would be cost for distribution... ??? Not that it really matters that much.

If they're able to pull equal / higher CPMs for the viewers, @Henry's got a pretty good plan in mind.
Christopher Lower (URL) said:
In a perfect world, NBC would have that level of user control of the content. We are forgetting a few things, like the fact that they are limited by IOC and Chinese imposed constraints. NBC does not have free reign or access to everything as well. The IOC just loosened up restrictions allowing athletes to be able to blog. While I believe the content creation & consumption will be outstanding, and in unprecedented numbers, it will still only be a fraction of the potential it truly could have.

Up until last week, all content was going to be restricted off of YouTube. Now YouTube will have pre-canned packages of highlights and recaps, and can sell advertising (only to Olympic Sponsors), oh, and by the way, YouTube will not be able to show the content in the U.S. and several other countries, due to content being sold to these “other channels.” I think we need to applaud the progress that has been made in the adoption of new media by the Olympic Dinosaur, and wait to see what progress will be made in time for the 2010 U.K. hosted Junior Olympics. I blogged a bit more about this at http://abovethebuzz.wordpress.com.
Christopher Lower (URL) said:
In a perfect world, NBC would have that level of user control of the content. We are forgetting a few things, like the fact that they are limited by IOC and Chinese imposed constraints. NBC does not have free reign or access to everything as well. The IOC just loosened up restrictions allowing athletes to be able to blog. While I believe the content creation & consumption will be outstanding, and in unprecedented numbers, it will still only be a fraction of the potential it truly could have.

Up until last week, all content was going to be restricted off of YouTube. Now YouTube will have pre-canned packages of highlights and recaps, and can sell advertising (only to Olympic Sponsors), oh, and by the way, YouTube will not be able to show the content in the U.S. and several other countries, due to content being sold to these “other channels.” I think we need to applaud the progress that has been made in the adoption of new media by the Olympic Dinosaur, and wait to see what progress will be made in time for the 2010 U.K. hosted Junior Olympics. I blogged a bit more about this at http://abovethebuzz.wordpress.com.
Toolbar Review (URL) said:
The "Olympics Toolbar" mentioned above seems unfinished and kinda confusing. There IS a big button that takes you to an online clothing store selling $18 tee shirts (takes 3 pages to find out the price).

The toolbar here is much better:

http://www.bivot.com/

Links to each Olympic sport, along with RSS feeds that are constantly updated. Also some nice gadgets, including a "Medal Counter" and a "Mini Olympics" game where you can try archery, weightlifting and diving without having to visit a web site. Great for keeping up to date when you're stuck in the office.
kathismom said:
Ok.. so not only am I behind a corporate firewall but at home I am a Mac person and also only have Dish network 100. So, from what I can figure out that means, I can't watch the equistrian evens, diving, soccer and maybe not even the tennis because I don't get Oxygen, or MSNnbc whatever it is soccer or Telemundo.
Hmmm... does that suck or what?
If Dish was smart (and they aren't) they would offer a Olympic package with access to all the channels any parts of the Olympics are on for the period of time they run.
Darn. Too bad they aren't smart. I guess my viewing will be limited.
bavb said:
I have not been able to watch the Olympics for years now. I cannot take the commentary and there is no way to turn it on/off like on a dvd. Who wants to hear those morons constantly talking? It completely ruins the experience, i cannot watch it.


jim said:
Anyone know how can we email the nbc commentators? Some of this stuff cries out for a response.
aydee said:
Can somebody tell me were I can watch the olympics online without having to pay for it. And I really don't have any option on the tv because I don't have the whole package. So if someone can tell me I would really appreciate it.Thanks
Ryan said:
I'm really glad that I live on the east coast so I can see live events live. But i am truly disappointed in NBC's offerings of coverage. If you're going to have coverage on USA network then show coverage on USA network, not one hour here 3 hours there. How about all the time like NBC Universal HD (with has rubbish offering though) and I have no idea what they're showing on MSNBC because I don't get that channel in my area unless I have a highly upgraded cable channel set.

way to go NBC thanks for the craptacular coverage.

And let not get started on the LAME commentary and equally LAME filler used in prime time broadcast.
I Lynch said:
I am sorry to say but here in Jamaica, we watch all the Track & Fields live and since most include the Americans we are fine, why don't you guys get the feed live?
komsik (URL) said:
Man.. NBC kids are lame asses, I just really wish I could smack some people there and ask them wtf they were thinking.
Mark Thornton (URL) said:
I feel the same way about NBC's coverage of the Olympics. They are showing only what they want to show and even though its nice to have access to some of these games online and my little 19 inch monitor, it is much better to see it on a tv screen for me than a computer screen and nbc should be ashamed of themselves for giving the impression that we would be able to see all of the games of our choice. WRONG!!! I prefer to watch as much basketball as I can watch - I really would like to be able to watch each and every game and that's mainly what I care about. I do like many of the other games but b-ball is my thing and they only limited the so-called basketball channel and soccer channel's to certain areas across the country. As much as I pay for digital cable and internet I should be able to watch anything that I want to whenever I want. I have also found out that if you are a sports fan that you might be better off to have direct tv. I heard that somewhere. Hope everyone finds what they are looking for. Good Luck everyone!

Mark
Christian said:
This article nailed it.. NBC really screwed it up. Whoever was the genious that thought that showing EVERYTHING on tape delay on the West Coast was a good idea. For this, I'm not watching ANY of NBC's programming in the future... any of it (and not just during the Olympics).
Atlanta Media Guy said:
Hey NBC plans to tape delay The Super Bowl on the West Coast. Their Owned and operated stations want to make sure they run their news live and at 6pm!
(sarc off)
aydee said:
I don't know if you guys are watching the basketball games but if you are , Have you notice how messed up this situation is for the U.S.A. Made up foul trouble from the refs and now I am just watching the Argentina- USA game and those people are really trying to upset the U.S.A and hitting them and instead of the refs giving them fouls they give the U.S.A the foul. It seems that this Olympics are Anti-U.S.A or something, and it is really upsetting. The Players are not responsible for what the governments do. I wish all the U.S.A teams and players the best of luck. NBC should be ashame of itself for not letting us enjoy the Olympics this year. All for the money, now they want to sell the ceremony and the Phelps videos. That is a bunch of bull.
Kevin said:
ok - so how about a retraction now that the stats are in and the dot-com part of NBC's broadcasting got tons of traffic without any of this girly sort of complaining? ...
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