Ahhh yes, as expected “old media” diehards are finally chiming in on the #NBCfail fiasco.
First, we have Ad Age, who published an article about their version of the “truth” about this ordeal.
The main point centered around the fact that NBC is a business, not a charity. Well, duh… of course they are (do you really think people are that stupid?). So NBC paid 1.2 Billion dollars for the rights to broadcast these games… and of course, to profit, they would have to sell quite a few commercials (expensive ones) to make that back.
Again… duh. But is that the viewer’s problem?
NBC and “old media” would like you to think it is.
If NBC wants to broadcast a world major event like the Olympics, but it only wants to serve the needs of one part of its customer base (the advertisers)… does that make sense? Nope… it needs to serve the viewers too.
For example…
If Amazon ran its business like NBC did in this Olympics coverage and resulting fail, it would have no problem selling the books and merchandise to profit… but they would forget about who is actually buying and consuming the books… their customer.
Does Amazon run its business this way? I think not.
So should NBC have no problem selling commercials to advertisers for us to watch so it can make back its 1.2 billion… then forget about the people consuming the commercials, and as a part of that… the coverage of The Olympics?
You already know the answer to that. 
Now on to the other article I found today…
The author claims that because 18% of people don’t use the Internet, and of the 82% that do… only 8% use Twitter regularly (I’m included in this group… not all of Twitter’s millions of users use it regularly)… that we are just talking amongst ourselves.
And here’s where BOTH articles, old media, and big businesses seem to get this whole #NBCfail thing WAY wrong…
This isn’t about NBC’s business, or about the fact that there are a limited number of people using Twitter regularly at all. Hell, it’s not only about the “tape delay” either… that happens pretty regularly in sports coverage.
It IS about listening to your audience… whether they are on Twitter, Google Plus, Facebook… or even those that aren’t on the Internet yet. By the way, those that don’t have Internet access don’t have an online voice either… so to assume they automatically like the coverage of The Olympics is probably not an assumption I would make.
NBC has tried to tout they have had the highest ratings of any Olympic Games in the past… well, duh… there ARE more people on the planet, therefore there are more potential viewers. I would hope the ratings would go up every time an Olympics came around. Also, I wonder how much higher those ratings would be if NBC actually listened to the viewers? Hmmm… something to think about.
And here’s a final thought…
If NBC is supposed to be a media company… a media business if you will, wouldn’t you think it would listen to the media savvy part of its audience? I mean, it is the 21st century after all, and the technology IS available to accomplish everything the audience seems to be asking for.
Jeff Jarvis provides an excellent explanation of the economics.
NBC, you can’t stay stuck to your old ways… even big business has to adapt. You wouldn’t have to sell commercials as hard if you paid attention to a viewership that might do some of the selling for you.
