NBC figure skating low ratings

[TontoK]

While I have (mostly) made my peace with Tara and Johnny, I think that a valid criticism is that they can come across as catty and over-the-top and self-promoting. They can make a broadcast seem more about themselves than the athletes.

For those who subscribe to that view, I don’t see how Adam and Ashley would be an improvement.

 

[Proxy]

Agreed.

But everyone here has their anecdotes about what friends, neighbors and the mailman thinks about Tara and Johnny. NBC, I am sure, has cold hard numbers that they are looking at and analyzing, and they are deciding to go with Tara and Johnny.

Our experiences are not going to overcome what their financial analysts are telling them. And if those analysts are telling them that Tara and Johnny bring more eyeballs than they "drive away", then that's what they are going with.

I stand by my opinion that if FS viewership is down at the Olys, it's not T&J's fault. And I don't even *watch* their coverage most of the time.....

You could be right. Maybe the detractors are right. I think more of the burden lies on the ISU, IJS, judges, skaters, and the like. If they deliver a bad product, there's nothing a good broadcast can do about it anyway. Too many jump, jump, jump, only jump programs with controversial judging scandals will cause people to tune out. Allowing lyrics in programs thinking that pop music will make the sport more popular was woefully misguided. Regardless whether you like the vocals or not, it was a mere cover up for more rotten problems.

 

[zanadude]

You could be right. Maybe the detractors are right. I think more of the burden lies on the ISU, IJS, judges, skaters, and the like. If they deliver a bad product, there's nothing a good broadcast can do about it anyway.

The Japanese are consuming the product at a record rate. I think the problem is in the presentation to American audiences.

 

[sillyant]

Ratings would be high in Australia if our local network wasn't crap! I had to watch most of the mens on live stream yesterday as they decided to show other stuff and not realising that figure skating is one of the big ticket events of the Olympics...

yeap.... it is ridiculous because you can watch Curling anytime but you can only watch figure skating in the afternoon when no one is at home

 

[Proxy]

The Japanese are consuming the product at a record rate. I think the problem is in the presentation to American audiences.

You can't cherry pick one or two countries though. What is the total pie from all countries combined? Is it growing? Do you know what the ISU treasury looks like?

 

[moonvine]

Here in Canada, the CBC is doing a fabulous job covering the whole Olympics. Not only can we watch it on TV we can watch it live on our PCs or Iphones or Tablets. They've made it so easy for us, it's pretty hard to miss any coverage. Of course for Figure Skating we have Kurt Browning, Carol Lane and Brenda Irving. They're doing an awesome job explaining every skater's move.

We can watch it live on our PCs or Iphones or tablets as well, with different commentators than the TV broadcast. You must be able to watch more than me because I can't come close to watching it all and I don't watch hockey or curling, which take up huge amounts of time.

 

[moonvine]

Agreed.

But everyone here has their anecdotes about what friends, neighbors and the mailman thinks about Tara and Johnny. NBC, I am sure, has cold hard numbers that they are looking at and analyzing, and they are deciding to go with Tara and Johnny.

Our experiences are not going to overcome what their financial analysts are telling them. And if those analysts are telling them that Tara and Johnny bring more eyeballs than they "drive away", then that's what they are going with.



I stand by my opinion that if FS viewership is down at the Olys, it's not T&J's fault. And I don't even *watch* their coverage most of the time.....

I remember when NBC outbid ABC and CBS, who had previously covered the Olympics. Every 4 years there was copious protesting of NBC's broadcast. NBC always responded that they had done focus groups and mostly females watched the Olympics and women didn't really like sports, they wanted fluff pieces. As a female I find that pretty offensive. But really it's not so important since I can watch anything online live or in replay.

People who don't have cable can pay $7 for a vpn and watch foreign coverage or they can pay for one month's worth of Hulu TV or Sling or Youtube TV. There are lots of ways a person who really wants to watch the Olympics can do so.

The fluff pieces don't bother me half as much as showing 10 min of skating, then 10 min of something else and then 10 min of something else. But I have to assume that NBC does that so that people don't just tune in to watch their sport and then tune out.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

We can watch it live on our PCs or Iphones or tablets as well, with different commentators than the TV broadcast. You must be able to watch more than me because I can't come close to watching it all and I don't watch hockey or curling, which take up huge amounts of time.

I just noticed I can watch live Olympic broadcasts via SnapChat. What a time to be alive!

 

[el henry]

I remember when NBC outbid ABC and CBS, who had previously covered the Olympics. Every 4 years there was copious protesting of NBC's broadcast. NBC always responded that they had done focus groups and mostly females watched the Olympics and women didn't really like sports, they wanted fluff pieces. As a female I find that pretty offensive. But really it's not so important since I can watch anything online live or in replay.

People who don't have cable can pay $7 for a vpn and watch foreign coverage or they can pay for one month's worth of Hulu TV or Sling or Youtube TV. There are lots of ways a person who really wants to watch the Olympics can do so.

The fluff pieces don't bother me half as much as showing 10 min of skating, then 10 min of something else and then 10 min of something else. But I have to assume that NBC does that so that people don't just tune in to watch their sport and then tune out.

Wow, I never heard that. I too am female, and as mentioned upstream, have been watching and loving fluff pieces for, uh, well since ABC did them. And ABC did a lot of them. I've never been one of those "just the facts" for any of the sports I follow, and the "Up Close and Personal" might even get me to watch a sport or an athlete I would not have known about earlier. But that's me, not my gender

That said, I cut the cord a few years ago and watch all streaming now. And now, with social media, you can learn so much about your favs that you never would have known back in the day. And YouTube. And the Internet. It is really is a great time to be a fan.

And not a great time to be a TV exec

 

[#1Kerryfan]

My friend and I watched on NBCSN. I'm not sure if NBC even showed the three American men.

Skating hasn't been getting ratings in probably ten years, but they barely show anything. Olympics every four years, nationals one weekend a year and worlds one weekend a year. It's probably just hardcore fans and a few people who are bored and flip on the TV watching. You guys think it's a coincidence that football is the most popular sport in the US? It's on TV EVERY WEEKEND for all of football seasons. A lot more people are likely to just turn on the TV, see football and generate interest.

 

[RobinA]

I guess I’m confused at the complaints. I’m seeing far more skating than has ever been shown before. Last night I watched Men from 8-10 and then switched channels and watched Men from 10 until about 12. On TV. People watch skating on iPhones and tablets? No wonder they don’t like it, they can see it! Tara and Johnny? To me they exaggerate, but let’s face it, I don’t think there’s a skating commentator since TV was invented people didn’t complain about.

 

[Icey]

If you noticed, the number of empty seats in the stadium has been sizable for all of the figure skating events thus far.

 

[moonvine]

My friend and I watched on NBCSN. I'm not sure if NBC even showed the three American men.

Skating hasn't been getting ratings in probably ten years, but they barely show anything. Olympics every four years, nationals one weekend a year and worlds one weekend a year. It's probably just hardcore fans and a few people who are bored and flip on the TV watching. You guys think it's a coincidence that football is the most popular sport in the US? It's on TV EVERY WEEKEND for all of football seasons. A lot more people are likely to just turn on the TV, see football and generate interest.

That's not really fair. They showed all of the GPs, GP final, Europeans, etc. A great deal of nationals. I watched everything but Europeans on icenetwork, but watched Europeans on Olympic channel or NBCSN. Tanith was commentating and she did a fabulous job. Can't remember which now. Yes, they are channels which cost money, but they have to show the more popular sports on the broadcast channel. We are really being offered much more coverage than ever before. Football was already way more popular than skating, and I don't know anyone who was previously unaware of football who suddenly discovered it on TV. Then again I grew up an SEC fan. There are way more football games. Hundreds every week if you count all college and pro games. There aren't anywhere near that many skating competitions. You can't compare the two in any meaningful way.

 

[Tonichelle]

This and for many non-skating regulars it is Johnny and Tara. I can't tell you how many people I've seen on social media complaining and how many of my friends/relatives/acquaintances have said: "have I told you how annoying Johnny and Tara are and how they never shut up?!??"

the main complaints I see is they don't explain how skater B is over skater A when skater A had a cleaner program. All of my friends are up in arms because Nathan skated SO BRILLIANTLY according to Tara and Johnny and yet he doesn't have a medal. All it would take is have the Tweedles explain that 1. Nathan won the FS, but 2. because he was SO FAR DOWN in the standings he had to rely on others to falter - and by how much. Tara did say that he would have to skate perfect and then "the next ten skaters would have to have major issues" but that's so ambiguous. Sure WE FANS know what she *might* mean (I for the life of me can never figure out what she's really trying to say with all the stupid things that come out of her mouth), but if you only follow every 4 years? yeah you have no clue. And they admitted the third night of coverage that they are NOT COMMENTATING FOR THE DIEHARD FANS. Terry made sure to snark that out because I'm sure HE knows how frustrated we're all getting with it. Tara and Johnny need to explain just the basics of the IJS and they could have said "in the old system, there'd be no way Nathan would have come so close to the podium after his short program". But no. They just sit there going "I don't know how Jin got higher than Nathan." And that's BS.

 

[moonvine]

Wow, I never heard that. I too am female, and as mentioned upstream, have been watching and loving fluff pieces for, uh, well since ABC did them. And ABC did a lot of them. I've never been one of those "just the facts" for any of the sports I follow, and the "Up Close and Personal" might even get me to watch a sport or an athlete I would not have known about earlier. But that's me, not my gender

That said, I cut the cord a few years ago and watch all streaming now. And now, with social media, you can learn so much about your favs that you never would have known back in the day. And YouTube. And the Internet. It is really is a great time to be a fan.

And not a great time to be a TV exec

I heard that a lot. But I was one of the biggest decriers of NBC coverage from the beginning. I've got to admit I was watching skiing, didn't know any of them from Adam's housecat, and was getting bored. It was one nameless faceless guy going down a hill after another.

 

[Mathman]

If you read the actual ratings article linked in the OP, it is not just figure skating that is down, it is the whole Olympics last night. It's not like everyone turned on the TV to see the super G then turned it off when skating came on.

Plus, it was opposite Omarosa on Celebrity Big Brother, so what are you going to do?

 

[YagsFan]

Lol...sounds like you might be projecting you’re own view here onto others. Lots of my friends texted me that they’ve enjoyed the skating events and the commentary. Keep in mind I always talk about the sport in a positive light so I may have conditioned those around me to do the same :think:

I’d say most of my non skating friends have a positive view of Tara and Johnny. Only on GS do I have to deal with negative spamming about them

I think NBC is doing a great job and they’ve been showing and talking about skating as much as any other sport.

Here, here, Sam! I wish more people would realize that Olympic coverage has always been done this way, REGARDLESS OF WHICH NETWORK is broadcasting. This is the Winter Olympics after all, not (just) a figure skating competition, and they are trying to bring as much of the various contests as possible as they are happening. Only now, we have the advantage of getting coverage on 2 new secondary channels (NBCSN and Olympic), which we never had before! So now we are actually getting fuller coverage than ever! I personally love it! I know people get tired of the so-called "fluff" pieces, but again, these happen no matter which network is doing the coverage, and really, rightly or wrongly, exist to make the athletes more relateable to the more casual viewer. As to the commentators, we all have our preferences, but complaining about whoever is chosen is also most definitely not new or limited to Tara and Johnny. I well remember plenty of vitriol leveled at Scott Hamilton, for example, as recently as Salt Lake. Even the unparalleled Dick Button has had his detractors.

 

[moonvine]

Plus, it was opposite Omarosa on Celebrity Big Brother, so what are you going to do?

You're kidding, right?

 

[mrrice]

I bet one of the reasons for low ratings is that it's nearly impossible to find skating because it's not featured. In California, it's been sandwiched between skiing and every time I tune in it's skiing that I see. I recorded several hours of the games so that I won't miss anything but, I'm not watching it live. It's too frustrating.

 

[Mathman]

You're kidding, right?

Nope. It's mentioned in the last paragraph of the article.