Well, it’s all over.
After 19 days of thrilling victories, agonizing defeats, and a whole lot of Snoop Dogg, the 2024 Summer Olympics have come to a close.
Now that all the medals have been handed out, we want to shift the focus away from the athletes and onto a much more important topic (at least to us):
We’re talking, of course, about the TV viewing experience.
Did NBC Deliver Gold-Medal Coverage?
Olympic ratings are pretty reliable most years, which is why NBC was willing to shell out $7.65 billion for the the exclusive US rights to the games through 2032.
Of course, these days, there are more entertainment options than ever, and with the exception of NFL football, sports are not as big a draw for TV audiences as they used to be.
That’s one reason why the network protected its investment with content designed to appeal to viewers outside of the usual demographics for live sports.
It’s been reported that NBC shelled out $50 million for all those celebrity cameos, with Snoop alone receiving $500,000 a day.
Many TV critics and media outlets wrote that this year’s coverage was an improvement over previous years’ broadcasts (though, to be fair, that’s a pretty low bar to clear).
But it’s important to note that the people who write about sports media professionally probably have access to all of NBC’s platforms. And they’re able to devote a lot more time to this stuff than the average viewer.
Perhaps it’s for that reason that the folks at Vulture had such a different spectator experience than the average Redditor.
Many viewers found NBC’s coverage to be riddled with flaws, complaining about everything from the constant product-pushing to the difficulty of navigating the schedule of live events.
An Olympic-Sized Letdown?
“N(othing) B(ut) C(ommercials)…back after these messages,” one amateur critic wrote on Reddit this week.
“Compared to the Canadian and UK broadcasts, it’s a damn joke (and no…I don’t want to subscribe to f–king peacock (news flash, they have commercials too except theirs are thrown in randomly.)”
And for many viewers, NBC’s celeb-focused approach was a total miss.
“It’s disgusting low tier garbage,” wrote another Redditor. “I don’t give a sh-t about Flavor Flav, Snoop Dogg or Tom Cruise!! highlight the athletes!!!
“They’ve worked their asses off to get here also the commentators make me want to throw my tv against the wall. They called Simone Biles an ‘entertainer’ WTF!!!!”
Obviously, those are just the opinions of two random viewers, but similar views were echoed from all corners of the social media landscape.
Clearly, NBC saw this year’s games as a golden opportunity to nudge viewers toward its fledgling streaming service, Peacock.
They employed a similar strategy during last year’s NFL season, offering coverage of the Kansas City Chiefs-Miami Dolphins playoff game exclusively to paid subscribers.
NBC’s Peacock Problem
Peacock comes with a free trial period, but NBCUniversal execs are hoping that newcomers will get hooked on their content library — or simply forget to cancel.
The problem is, as one of the newer streamers, Peacock’s library is not nearly as large as what you’d find on, say, Netflix or Max.
And the original programs it does offer are of extremely inconsistent quality.
The service recently shelled out its biggest budget yet for the Ancient Rome series Those About to Die, and thus far, reviews and the public’s reaction have been equally disappointing.
The risk, expense, and uncertainty involved in developing the next hit series means streaming execs will likely double-down on the approach we’re currently seeing more of:
Taking a beloved, established viewing experience like NFL football or the Olympics and asking viewers to pay for something that they used to get for free.
For obvious reasons, it’s not a strategy that generates much goodwill from consumers.
The subscribers who shell out so that they can watch their favorite team in the playoffs are likely doing so grudgingly, reluctantly.
And under those circumstances, they’re probably not thrilled about the prospect of playing into NBC’s hand by checking out the new season of Poker Face.
In fact, when they find out that Peacock’s introductory tier still requires them to sit through commercial breaks, they might reach the decision that they already pay for enough streamers.
Snoop is charismatic, and the Olympics were entertaining, but the modern indignity of being asked to pay for ad-supported TV is a burden that even the most resilient competitor should not be asked to bear.