If you get all your news on the internet (thank you for reading!), you may have the impression that NBC has been an utter failure during the London Olympics — a disappointment to the nation, a puddle of undeserved sweat, not even worthy of bronze. Can you imagine if Ryan Seacrest had devoted a “Social Download” segment to the rise and continued rise of the prevalent hashtag #NBCFail? He might have had to cut out Angelina’s leg to get the point across!
But while the same few thousand people who write all of the articles on the internet complained about #NBCFail, it turned out plenty of television viewers were satisfied. As early as Aug. 6, still in the wake of the tape-delayed PhelpsGate, a Pew survey found that 76 percent of the Olympics watchers described NBC’s coverage as excellent or good. Overall ratings were up 12 percent from Beijing, a surprise considering that four years ago, NBC was able to air marquee events from those Games live in prime time. The network has secured the rights to the Olympics through 2020, so it couldn’t hurt to try to look on the bright side.
So yeah, while NBC did make some mistakes — spoiling their own prime time coverage with a Today promo, failing to air a big Michael Phelps race live, and whiffing it on men’s gymnastics — here’s what they did right: READ FULL STORY »
