[gusmahler]

So what does everything think of the Opening Ceremonies so far?

Nothing? Oh, silly me. What was I thinking? Americans can't view the opening ceremonies for hours, even though they are happening right now!

 

[anleva]

So what does everything think of the Opening Ceremonies so far?

Nothing. Oh, silly me. What was I thinking? Americans can't view the opening ceremonies for hours, even though they are happening right now!

The changeover from rural Britain to the Industrial Revolution was pretty cool

 

[Quaker2001]

Well... there is another way of looking at that. Chances are high that some people can't see it at night because they work in a restaurant or store or some other evening job, and they watch it in the afternoon. Similarly plenty of people work in the day time and can't see it in the afternoon.

If you have ONE showing, you can get say.... 10 million viewers. If you have TWO showings, maybe you will get 7 Million viewers in the afternoon, and 5 million viewers at night, effectively having 12 Million viewers watch your commercials.

A lot more people work during the daytime than at night. You can't really play to all of them for an event like the Olympics. Again, it's not about AN event. It's easy to think that way once, but you have to think about 16 days of competition. You're already splitting your audience into lots of lots across multiple networks, so to split it up further is not going to help, in primetime which is your 1 main gathering point where the sponsors are paying for their biggest audience. And you're not getting that on a weekday afternoon. I know those are completely theoretical numbers but there is ZERO chance you're drawing more people in the afternoon than you would in the evening. Even in Canada that's not the case.

Also, LIVE viewing promotes commercial viewing. So the 7 million watching it in the afternoon will see the commercials for sure, or at least the majority.

See, if the event is going to be tape-delayed anyways, and another 3 hours on top of that, I might as well make that 4 hours, watch some other DVR'd Olympics, and not watch ANY commercials on NBC whatsoever. I think with the live showing, they would actually get more commercial viewers. Delay is delay, for those with a DVR it then doesn't matter anymore your build in your own delay to prevent commercial watching.

Here's the thing though.. people are stupid. I forget what the numbers are, but there are a lot of folks out there who had HD equipment but don't realize they're not actually watching in HD. Just like folks with DVRs don't always skip through the commercials. Primetime may be taped, but NBC has long treated it (and many viewers view it) as if it's live, even though we all know it's not. And where you make the delay argument.. I have a few friends who will tune into a football game half an hour after the start and skip through the commercials, so by the end they're caught up.

And that might also be a very compelling reason - especially in weekends - to show important stuff live.

For myself, in 2010/2008, I watched stuff live IF it was live (and thus saw commercials). If it was delayed in any way, I just added my own DVR delay and watched NO commercials whatsoever.

That's probably because you're not an idiot. You know how to seek these things out discern what's live and what isn't. But you still need an audience in front of their televisions in the first place. Americans aren't familiar enough with most of the sports and athletes they see in the Olympics that they're going to be naturally drawn to it. So if people only have 3 or 4 hours to devote to the Olympics, your best bet to get them is in primetime and they may still tune in at 8 and be there for the commercials. And if not, you always have online coverage as an alternate which wasn't there in 2008/2010.

 

[maartena]

Not that any of you can actually read this.... but an article in DUTCH on how remarkable it is that the U.S. will be one of the FEW that is not allowed to watch the Opening Ceremony live.

http://www.rtl.nl/components/actuee...onie_Spelen_niet_live_op_Amerikaanse_buis.xml

Here is one in English on the Huff Post.

Our neighbors to the North.... are watching it live.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...ng-video_n_1710606.html?utm_hp_ref=technology

 

[Quaker2001]

I disagree. Speaking as someone who watched all of his gold medals wins in 2008, I didn't see a single qualifying heat. What's the point? Everyone knows he's going to make the final. The top competitors don't even try that hard in qualifying heats (e.g., you'll see Usain Bolt pull up 20 m from the finish because he already knows he's going to finish high enough to get to the finals.) (Here's a Usain Bolt qualifying heat from the 2011 World Championships. Not exactly exciting.

)

There are still plenty of people out there who can't get enough of Phelps, even if it's in a prelim where he's going to give less than 100% effort and still win fairly handily anyway. But again, if you give viewers reason and opportunity to skip qualifying rounds, then that extra bump of viewers you might get from having live coverage is going to get wasted away from those who won't be there for the heats.

 

[maartena]

Even in Canada that's not the case.

Canada, however, is broadcasting both the swimming events and the Opening Ceremony live across the entire nation.

The United States is the only Western country (that I can find) that refuses to show the Opening Ceremony live.

Also.... reports are that NBC already sold well over a billion dollars in advertising, and they are still selling more.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loc...g-Sales-Reach-Record-1-Billion-163805016.html

It also cost them a billion dollars to show it of course. Did they just overpay, and are they trying to make up for it by not showing events live? I know it is important to come out ahead, but.... not showing even the Opening Ceremony live is actually quite insulting, and makes the U.S. the laughing stock among Western nations right about now.

And if not, you always have online coverage as an alternate which wasn't there in 2008/2010.

Oh, please enlighten me WHERE NBC is streaming the Opening Ceremony right now.

 

[Hoosier205]

Looks great so far. I loved the Daniel Craig bit!

 

[maartena]

And so.... my social media ban has begun. Getting tweets from my family and friends in Holland and Canada about the Opening Ceremony.

I would tune in, but.....well.... I live in this country that doesn't allow it.

 

[John Strk]

It's pretty sad. Why can't NBC provide a live stream to a live event they are covering? Then viewers would have to sit through the online commercials. Well I'm recording it tonight and will watch it an hour or two later so I can SKIP through all their stupid commercials!! Another fail for NBC

 

[Hoosier205]

British children's literature segment looks wonderful.

 

[maartena]

British children's literature segment looks wonderful.

I guess you want us to ignore this topic too for the time being hmm? Well so be it. See ya all later tonight when I watched the full 1080p BBC version.

 

[sigma1914]

It's like an Olympic competition in here... a Nerd-off! Who can find the geekiest way to watch the Opening Ceremonies.

 

[anleva]

Rowan Atkinson was pretty funny

 

[mrlqban]

The changeover from rural Britain to the Industrial Revolution was pretty cool

Yes agree, but that's about it. Everything else after that have been pretty boring and subpar so far, in my opinion.

 

[Maruuk]

I thought the part where the Queen wrapped her legs around McCartney was in poor taste. But I was always more of a Lennon fan.

 

[anleva]

Tim Berners-Lee? I thought Al Gore invented the WWW?

 

[mrlqban]

Tim Berners-Lee? I thought Al Gore invented the WWW?

lol, I guess you need to stop watching MSNBC. Al Gore invented Global Warming too right?

 

[gusmahler]

From reading about the Opening Ceremonies from people in civilized countries, looks like I'm not missing much. Maybe NBC is actually trying to save Americans . . . Nah, they hate us.

 

[gusmahler]

Tim Berners-Lee? I thought Al Gore invented the WWW?

Berners-Lee invented the WWW. Gore invented the Internet. You need to get your facts straight.

 

[tonyd79]

I thought the part where the Queen wrapped her legs around McCartney was in poor taste. But I was always more of a Lennon fan.

Wrapping her legs around Lennon would be even more bad taste.