NBC and the Olympics
First of all, I love the Olympics, even if it is the greatest time-suck known to man. What I mean is, you sit down, flip on NBC, USA, CNBC, MSNBC, or Universal HD, and you’re completely sucked in. You watch event after event. NBC claims to average 24.5 hours of coverage across all of its networks. I completely buy that. I’ve probably watched most of them.
But here’s the thing: I don’t want to turn on NBC ever again, until Bejing 2008. How could the network have gone from must-see-thursday night to monday-crap-o-rama? “Coming after the Olympics: The Apprentice followed by Medium!” Two shows I don’t ever want to see. And Conviction? Every curling fan alive can now tell you the average age of a New York prosecutor is 28. (But it’s just another legal drama…. shouldn’t NBC plug “Law and Order” instead?)
Naturally, ABC did the same thing with its Super Bowl coverage. I admit: I tuned in to the post-Super Bowl Grey’s Anatomy. And, looking back on it, I’m not proud of it. (Though the ploy of a bomb in a body is nice. Kudos, writers of Grey’s Anatomy.) But there’s this little thing called “advertising to the right audience”. Fans of Olympic Hockey will not watch a show about up-and-coming attorneys. Hell, up-and-coming attorneys probably won’t watch a show about up-and-coming attorneys. And football fans aren’t going to possibly remember to watch an all new Grey’s Anatomy Sundays at 10. Sorry, it just doesn’t work that way.
I’m grateful to NBC for airing the Olympics, something that they’ve overpaid to air. Seems to me though that it would be easier to recoup your heavy investment by selling advertising time instead of using it to plug your own shows.
To the networks: We both know there are some people out there who want to watch schlock, but get real. You want to know why more and more people are turning to cable? Because your schedules are filled with garbage.
(While I was writing this, Cory Doctorow commented on my earlier post. Whee!)
Technorati Tags: Olympics, media, NBC, television, commercials
Tags: News
February 19th, 2006 at 2:07 am
omg - like 5 updates over 2 days. what is going on??
February 19th, 2006 at 9:17 am
It’s fun to blog!
I’m also putting off some FOCS work.