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I’m not a big fan of the
Olympics. Sure, I’ll watch a few events
while channel surfing. However, I have
to admit I was utterly mesmerized by the awesome spectacle of the opening
ceremonies (even if some of the fireworks were faked for TV using CGI, but that’s a whole 'nother blog post).
I watched the event on NBC
during primetime on Friday night. The
network – which has exclusive broadcasting rights – delayed airing the
ceremonies until 12 hours after they actually occurred. Millions of loyal fans had to wait all day to
get a glimpse of one of the most important Olympic events in decades.
NBC’s delayed airing of the
ceremonies made for an awkward moment on its sister network, CNBC, on Friday
morning. When a fountain of fireworks unexpectedly erupted from the top of the
Bird’s Nest, “Squawk Box” anchors reporting live in Beijing had to pretend nothing was going on behind
them. They didn’t expect the fireworks
until the end of the ceremonies, and they had to continue their on-air banter
without mentioning the events unfolding in their live shot. According the New York Times blog,
the anchors were “adhering to NBC’s the-ceremonies-start-when-we-say-they-start
script.”
Besides the fact that NBC
robbed the world of the timeliness of this historical event, they also missed a
huge opportunity. Delayed airings are
nothing new, and NBC had $1 billion worth of reasons to air the ceremonies
during its primetime block. But the
network squandered the opportunity to leverage its online assets to share the
opening ceremonies – and its advertisers’ messages – with the world.
“Tune in at this time” is one
of the reasons the top-down, big-media model is struggling. And NBC limited its thinking to this old
broadcast model. Imagine if NBC would
have leveraged digital networks to distribute “teasers” of the opening
ceremonies – with an accompanying message from advertisers, of course. Or the network could have merely included a
live feed on NBC.com to generate a bit of buzz – and more value for advertisers.
There’s a reason 15 percent
of the world’s population was watching on Friday night. The
opening ceremonies were visually stunning.
Certain aspects of the event were viral gold (“Gold, Jerry.”). There would have been tremendous pass-along
value in clips of the on-field performances, the country teams entering the
arena, the fireworks…
Most people that would have
seen online clips of the opening ceremonies likely would have tuned in on
Friday night anyway. In fact, perhaps
more than 15 percent of the world’s population would have watched if they had gotten
a taste of what to expect forwarded to them from a friend. NBC has been typically been at the front of
the pack in terms of its digital content strategy, and the opening ceremonies
should have been no exception.
But instead, CBC stole NBC’s online
thunder when fans posted links to the Canadian broadcaster’s live coverage on places
like Twitter. The control big
broadcasters have enjoyed for decades is eroding in the online world. And it’s time for them get with the program
by taking advantage of these new realities.
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