by Cheval John
Everyone witnessed history on Tuesday night when the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
The gold medal win was their first since 1996 when the “Magnificent Seven” won it at the ’96 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
The only problem is that the event took place three to four hours before NBC aired it in prime time.
Some wonder why they choose to air the event on tape delay when the United Kingdom is five hours ahead of New York.
NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus believes that by showing important events on tape delay, it will draw more viewers than being shown live.
“I think what we’ve proven is that the American viewing public likes the way we tell the story and wants to gather in front of the television with their friends and family-even if they have the ability to watch it live either on television or digitally,” Lazarus said to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal.
“I inherently trust that decision is the right one and that people want to see these events.”
This is not the first time that they have done this.
In fact, it has been happening for years.
For example, the “Miracle on Ice” that took place at Lake Placid, New York during the 1980 Winter Olympics, was seen by 34.2 million viewers on ABC.
Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when Team USA defeated the heavy favorite “U.S.S.R. (now Russia).
However, the event was shown on tape delay as well while television networks around the world showed the game live to their viewing audience.
Those Americans who were either at the game or lived overseas were able to witness history before them while those who lived in the states and watched it on television, saw it about three to four hours after it happened.
To be fair, the announcers of NBC tells the viewers to turn away from the set as they display the results so that those who want to see the competition can enjoy it without knowing the results beforehand.
But, with the internet, people can find out the results of a specific event within minutes, even if they have no intention to because it is advertise as soon as you start using the internet.
It’s true that the ratings are much higher if the events are shown in tape delay.
At the end of the day, they cheat their viewers out of the olympic experience.
Related
Not All Ratings Are Good Ratings
by Cheval John
Everyone witnessed history on Tuesday night when the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
The gold medal win was their first since 1996 when the “Magnificent Seven” won it at the ’96 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
The only problem is that the event took place three to four hours before NBC aired it in prime time.
Some wonder why they choose to air the event on tape delay when the United Kingdom is five hours ahead of New York.
NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus believes that by showing important events on tape delay, it will draw more viewers than being shown live.
“I think what we’ve proven is that the American viewing public likes the way we tell the story and wants to gather in front of the television with their friends and family-even if they have the ability to watch it live either on television or digitally,” Lazarus said to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal.
“I inherently trust that decision is the right one and that people want to see these events.”
This is not the first time that they have done this.
In fact, it has been happening for years.
For example, the “Miracle on Ice” that took place at Lake Placid, New York during the 1980 Winter Olympics, was seen by 34.2 million viewers on ABC.
Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when Team USA defeated the heavy favorite “U.S.S.R. (now Russia).
However, the event was shown on tape delay as well while television networks around the world showed the game live to their viewing audience.
Those Americans who were either at the game or lived overseas were able to witness history before them while those who lived in the states and watched it on television, saw it about three to four hours after it happened.
To be fair, the announcers of NBC tells the viewers to turn away from the set as they display the results so that those who want to see the competition can enjoy it without knowing the results beforehand.
But, with the internet, people can find out the results of a specific event within minutes, even if they have no intention to because it is advertise as soon as you start using the internet.
It’s true that the ratings are much higher if the events are shown in tape delay.
At the end of the day, they cheat their viewers out of the olympic experience.
Share this:
Related
Tags: 2012 Olympics, The Magificent Seven, U.S. Gymnastics
About Cheval John
Cheval John is the Founder and CEO of Vallano Media, LLC, a marketing agency which helps small to mid-sized businesses use social media correctly to build a loyal following and in the process become more profitable. Cheval is also the host of "What's The Word?" a podcast about finding out what inspires people to choose their respective careers and how social media impacted their lives and business. He is the author of two books including the Amazon Best-Seller, "8 Lessons Every Podcaster Needs To Learn." He has spoken at Social Media Week Lima in Ohio and at Social Media Day Houston 2017 about topics around live streaming and podcasting. Cheval has been featured in media outlets including Ebony Magazine, Social Media Today and Forbes. He was named a Houston Top 25 Social Media Power Influencer (2016 and 2017) and a Twitter Top 50 Influencer by Onalytica in 2018.