Comcast/NBC Ignores Lessons From The Cord Cutting Age, Buries Olympics Under An Ocean Of Annoying Advertising
from the you-will-like-what-we-say-you'll-like dept
It's becoming abundantly clear that the lessons of the cord cutting age are not sinking in at Comcast/NBC Universal headquarters. Last Friday night, NBC aired the Olympic opening ceremonies, but spent the weekend being mercilessly ridiculed on social media for a broadcast that was not only showy and hollow, but absolutely slathered with not just ads -- but the same ads shown over and over again. Viewers, many of whom were already annoyed by NBC's refusal to show the opening ceremonies live, made their displeasure abundantly clear:NBC clearly bringing home the gold medal in number of commercials. #Rio2016
— Everett (@EvGres) August 6, 2016
In effort to realize record profits from Rio 2016, NBC to become first network to air more than 60 minutes of commercials in a single hour.
— Norman Chad (@NormanChad) August 6, 2016
Hey @nbc. If you are so concerned with #Rio2016 viewership being down, maaaaaybe don’t show commercials every 5 minutes.
— Lauren Smith (@LaurnSmith) August 6, 2016
What they got was a one-hour tape delay so NBC could try and shovel as many advertisements at consumers as possible (under the guise of needing to add "context"), and some incoherent rambling from hosts who often went hysterically out of their way to avoid addressing any of the volatile realities surrounding the games in Rio. Previously, NBC execs tried to justify this tone-deafness with all manner of excuses, ranging from absurd to relatively insulting:
The people who watch the Olympics are not particularly sports fans. More women watch the Games than men, and for the women, they’re less interested in the result and more interested in the journey. It’s sort of like the ultimate reality show and mini-series wrapped into one. And to tell the truth, it has been the complaint of a few sports writers. It has not been the complaint of the vast viewing public.As the complaints bubbled over among the viewing public, NBC started playing defense, telling industry news outlets like Ad Week that the Rio games ad load is "very similar" to the 2010 London Olympics; it's the public perception that's to blame:
"As we did for London, we inserted a few more commercials earlier in the show so that we can afford time later in the show to present as much of the ceremony as we can, including every single country in the Parade of Nations," said an NBC Sports spokesperson. "Given that the commercial load was very similar to London, we believe that consumption habits, such as binge-watching and 'marathoning,' have changed perceptions among the viewing audience regarding commercials."That's NBC admitting that modern consumers are finding over-advertising and other legacy cable habits more annoying than ever. Something NBC should have already known as consumers slowly but surely either cut the cable cord or trim back on their viewing packages because the game has changed. And what did NBC do armed with this information? It doubled down on being annoying. The result was a 30+% decline in the 18-49 demographic, with people trying harder than ever to explore Olympics streaming alternatives (or even use a VPN to watch live international streams if necessary).
This isn't just inflexibility and tone-deafness, it's almost a celebration of them. And it's just one more example of how the traditional cable and broadcast sector isn't just ready for real disruption, it's absolutely begging for it.
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Filed Under: advertising, olympics, opening ceremonies, tape delay, time delay
Companies: nbc universal
Reader Comments
The First Word
“So much wasted effort
Spending the time and effort to watch The Event That Shall Not Be Named via alternative means is rather like finding the front door to an event crammed full of roadblocks and checks, looking for a side-door only to find out that the event inside was crap no matter what entrance you used.made the First Word by audiomagi
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So much wasted effort
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They should adopt soccer advertising...
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I have several friends living in the US who were (and still are) incandescent about that
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Unlocated to Canada...
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Re:
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Interesting anecdote
I noticed that none of the Olympics stories that I've seen have attracted comments, though. Looking through all the stories they've run since the start (about 15), there has been a grand total one 1 comment -- and that one was someone scolding people for being insufficiently supportive of the Olympics.
It may not mean anything in the big picture, but I'm getting the impression that lots of people simply couldn't care less.
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Re: Interesting anecdote
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The reality is, they read Techdirt
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If you are interested in the actual Olympics, watch on NBC's app. It's actually pretty good and shows that NBC is thinking about this a great deal.
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Public Broadcasters
Anyway, maybe Americans want to start financing the public broadcaster(s) better, so they can buy the transmission rights and show them (mostly) ad free. Most of the rest of the civilised world seems to be happy with a well-funded public broadcasting system. (Even though a public broadcaster obviously has its own problems, but in comparison they seem bearable.)
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IOC Commitee
It has come to our attention that you are not an official sponsor of the Olympics (tm)(c). As such you are strictly forbidden to use the word Olympics and/or the letter 'o' (both lower and upper case). We hereby demand that you remove the letter 'o' from your website immediately. Thank you for your prompt compliance to this pressing matter. We, just as you do, take the protection of our IP seriously.
Sincerely,
The IOC
PS. Just for future reference, we are attempting to also copyright and trademark the letters 'i' and 'c' for the next Olympics.
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Re: IOC Commitee
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Olympics?
I've not seen a single thing about it on twitter or facebook.
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Re:
I heard their app is riddled with adware and borderline malware, but that's just I've heard.
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Re: Re:
Unless a non-broadcaster buys exclusive rights. Apple, for instance, could cut a check for exclusive rights and make it available only over Apple TV or to iOS devices. Actually, Apple probably wouldn't do that, but I could see Verizon trying to do something like that. The rights cost something like $5 billion.
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New Tagline
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Re: So much wasted effort
as it is, VERY glad to have that alternative, as we have been skipping around and watchign a lot of various sports we wouldn't otherwise watch...
hardly watching the olympic satellite channels at all...
she kept on top of when most of the gymnastics and swimming stuff was going on that she wanted to watch live, which then pretty much obviated the main coverage on the broadcast channels...
now, FAR from perfect in several ways: the aforementioned repetition of ads (something which appears especially prevalent in online programming), weird 'blackouts', and 'coverage will resume shortly' screens for no apparent reason, as well as some other annoyances...
but, overall, having the ability to pick and choose which events we want to watch, is how freaking tee vee should be...
get this, we even watched events where 'murikans weren't even competing ! ! !
(course, been a number of highly favored 'murikan teams and individuals dropping like, um, DDT'ed mosquitoes... bazika!)
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Stream free! But only if you pay.
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Re: Re: IOC Commitee
The wealthy and powerful benefit, as in so many big-money endeavors, governmental and otherwise. But the sanctimonious drivel under which this corruption festers, the soaring invocations of "the aspiring human body and spirit" and the "bringing together of all nations under the banner of noble athletic competition", that's what really makes this particular in-your-face reverse Robin Hood act so unbearably nauseating. There's hypocrisy, there's mega-hypocrisy, and there's hyper-reinforced industrial-strength hypocrisy. And then there's the Olympics.
Ugh. "support the Olympics"? I'd rather support some corrupt sport that basically enslaves the athletes, making them work for nothing and casting them aside when they become useless for revenue generation...something like NCAA football, maybe.
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The Ad-Bombing Will Continue Until Revenue Improves
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If they don't want people to watch, keep doing what they're doing. It sure can't be any worse in other countries.
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SSDD
There are other methods and means out there to draw money- *if you have a good product/service*. Those individuals and companies who grasp this concept now are going to be the ones still around in 5 years. If you are a website, newspaper, tech blog, tv network, or what have you, when it comes to making money: INNOVATE or DIE. You won't be missed.
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