NBC Admits It Was Wrong To Worry About Online Olympics Watching Cannibalizing TV Viewing
from the who-woulda-thunk-it? dept
NBC Universal has a long history of totally misunderstanding the relationship between online video and TV video. Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary (including from NBC's own competitor, CBS, which was quick to point out that more online watching resulted in more TV watching), NBC has insisted that online watching somehow cannibalizes TV viewers. That explains why its online Olympics offerings are so weak -- not showing any of the really interesting stuff until many hours after its been broadcast on TV.Amazingly, NBC execs seem to actually be admitting they made a pretty big mistake here. In going over their own research, they're finally realizing that rather than cannibalizing, people watching on either TV or online only seems to get them to watch more of the other, as it just makes them more interested in the Olympics as a whole. Of course, given how NBC has behaved in the past, don't expect it to recognize this in other parts of its business (or, say, start broadcasting stuff online before the tape delay on TV). Also, don't expect it to realize that perhaps its lawsuit against Redlasso is totally misguided, even though Redlasso helps more people see NBC content online.
Filed Under: cannibalize, internet, olympics, tv, video
Companies: nbc universal
