Olympic reflections

NBC must be breathing a sigh of relief. Or perhaps a couple sighs. One is that the Olympics are over. The other is that they managed to scrape through with a 12.2 -- since they had promised advertisers a twelve to fourteen share, they just barely managed to avoid the embarrassment of makegoods. What they didn't avoid is the embarrassment of the lowest-rated Olympics ever, topping (or bottoming) the previous record-holder, 1968. And in four years, they aren't going to avoid the embarrassment of trying to explain why they're trying to sell spots for the 2010 games for two hundred bucks each to used car dealers and CD collections of Jose Feliciano's Greatest Hits.

NBC wasn't helped, of course, by Michelle Kwan withdrawing from the Games, by the US hockey team turning into a whiny bunch of losers, and Bode Miller being, well, Bode Miller.

But I think what NBC forgot is that viewers aren't willing to watch 1994 TV in 2006. One of my friends was complaining about trying to watch the women's figure skating finals -- the showcase event. She had to watch numerous secondary skaters, with numerous cutaways to other events (ski jumping, biathlon) she didn't care about, until the featured stars came on, near bedtime.

This is the way Olympics have always been broadcast, of course -- we were expected to watch what the network wanted to show us, whenever they felt like showing it. But NBC has forgotten that viewers have changed, and TV needs to change with them. We now want to watch the events we choose, at a time we choose, and if NBC isn't willing to go along, then a sizeable portion of their audience is prepared to say, "Okay, we'll watch American Idol instead."

NBC got record traffic to their website during the Games, and maybe that gave them the message.

But there are people even unhappier about the Olympics than NBC:

The National Hockey League: They were hoping that the US hockey team might help make people forget about the lost season. Not likely. And when you go 1-4-1, it's best to leave town quietly in the middle of the night, rather than mouthing off to the press with whiny complaints about accomodations. The Canadian team didn't do a lot better. This is not what the NHL needed.

Bode Miller's agent: He came to town no doubt dreaming of multi-million dollar endorsement deals. He left trading his first-class ticket in for an economy seat and hoping the difference would help pay Bode's bar tab.