Commentary

The Olympics Should ONLY Be Streamed

Though the TV ratings for the Summer Olympics have now begun turning upward, the first couple days were a lot grimmer. The culprit just a day or so ago was streaming video, though that terminology is tortured, since it’s NBC that’s doing the streaming. So, if anything, it's suicide.

To be able to stream, you do have to have a cable or satellite subscription from which you can access an NBC station, and authenticate yourself before the streaming begins. Presumably, many millions of people can handle that.

NBC says 12.2 million streamed part of the opening ceremony Friday night. The most exciting moment came when supermodel Gisele Bundchen walked the entire length of the stadium. Or perhaps it never came at all. Hard to say. I drifted in and out of consciousness, dreaming of a land where the alphabet wasn't totally askew, like it is down there.

But it’s obvious to me, streaming is the way to watch these games, so much so that by 2018, when the next games are upon us, it would make sense if all of it was only online. 

Because, let’s face it, we only watch the Olympics because of a sense of patriotism and because they’re on, and we’ve been made to feel we should. These are not sports you would normally go out of your way to see. It’s kind of sweet that millions of us do. But it’s peculiar, too.

As evidence, I’ll note that tonight, NBC’s prime-time Olympics schedule appears to be wall-to-wall swimming, where the USA ought to do well.

That's watchable. But when was the last time you saw swimming in prime time? Probably, during the last summer Olympics (or possibly a year later, if CNN did a film package upon the death of Esther Williams, in 2013).

Streaming is perfect for Olympics sports. Little bite-sized pieces make sense, for little bite-sized sports. I’m not complaining about the Olympics. I’m just sayin’...

Now, Jessica Van Sack, who writes about tech for the Boston Herald is another story. I think she’s really complaining.  

“It’s time [for NBC] to kiss goodbye its status as the sole domestic broadcaster of the Olympic Games, an unsustainable arrangement in the age of live-streaming and binge-watching,” she writes.  

“In two years, it has to be the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea broadcast by Hulu and NBC, or Netflix and NBC. Amazon Prime could also join the mix. Whatever contract the network entered into with the International Olympic Committee needs to be voided for an act of nature — that young people’s viewing habits have simply changed.”

Van Sack is urging this course of action though it is more than a little self-serving, because “two blissful weeks ago,” she cut the cable cord.

But her points are clear. A growing number of people--not just millennials or cord cutters--are not about to watch an evening’s worth of often dry competitions to get to the few minutes they do care about. We don't live like that anymore. This is an age of YouTube videos and Facebook Live. The evolving nature of streaming video--and the Internet--is quick and to the point. Sorry, Matt Lauer.

“Unfortunately for NBC, the IOC seems to be a little behind the times on this,” Van Sack writes.  “Trying to rein in use of its brand name as a hashtag and a bizarre ban on GIFs are two examples. NBC had better start making the case for a live-streaming partner now so that the IOC and Comcast can both come to terms for 2018. Or, it could just strike a deal with Snapchat and hope none of them finds out.”

Now that’s a cold walk off line.

pj@mediapost.com
1 comment about "The Olympics Should ONLY Be Streamed".
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  1. Chuck Lantz from 2007ac.com, 2017ac.com network, August 9, 2016 at 6:41 p.m.

    The problem here is that the IOC is way, way beyond "a little behind the times."  A quick check of the average age of those who appear to be in charge would show it to be 70+, ... heavy on the "+"    

    They barely know what streaming is, let alone how to utilize it.  Which, for all the wrong reasons, makes NBC the perfect partner for the IOC, since both share the same blank-stare, open-mouthed, head-tilted expression when confronted with today's popular tech.

    And I'm speaking from actual experience. 24 years ago, when NBC covered the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, they were handed a beautiful, state-of-the-art internet package on a silver platter, and what they saw freaked them out so much that they all but killed it.  And now, a quarter-century later, they STILL don't get it.  On their Rio site, the centerpiece page offers 30-second ads, followed by 30-second event clips, followed by another 30-second ad, ad nauseum.

    On the other hand, the best visual coverage of an Olympics that I've ever seen was NBC's much-criticized pay-per-view Triple Cast of the Barcelona Olympics. Best $120 I've ever spent. That would be just over $200, inflation corrected, but I'd still pay it.

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