The Official Thread of the Run-Up to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Re: The Official Thread of the Run-Up to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada

If the USA makes it to the Gold Medal game, that will be on NBC.

Maybe.

the Westminister's dog show might have that same time slot too

[bronconick]

Re: The Official Thread of the Run-Up to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada

NBC's expecting to lose $200 million on the Games. Hopefully they follow the money right offstage and someone competent can start showing them.

[Puck Swami]

Re: The Official Thread of the Run-Up to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada

Who watches figure skating?

70% of women consider themselves figure skating fans
54% of the total population 12+ is interested in figure skating
68% are women age 25-54
65% 1+ years in college
63% are in $50M+ income households
Figure skating fans are educated and affluent
Figure skating is the highest-ranked sport among the U.S. population 12+ in fan base
Women sports fans prefer to watch figure skating over college basketball, college football, tennis and the NHL
Figure skating is the most popular spectator sport among American women and their teenage daughters

Also, don't be fooled by the "NBC loses $200 million" stuff. They may lose $200 million in direct P & L advertising revenue compared to the price they paid for the game and production costs they incur, but NBC will make more money on the backside through the cross-promotion and migration of viewer to post-Olympic prime time programming, as well as gains in brand prestige, locking out competitors, and the huge money-making backstage that the Olympics provides to sponsors and prospective sponsors for future deals. NBC likes to talk about losses so it brings the bid price down for future games, but make no mistake - if networks didn't find enormous "below-the-line" value in bidding on the games, they just wouldn't do it. NBC is smart.

[bronconick]

Re: The Official Thread of the Run-Up to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada

That's all nice, Swami, but figure skating gets exactly as much money from NBC for showing their events as the NHL does. Nothing. Their response to a judge scandal was to make all the judge's scores anonymous. The US championships in late January had a total of "5.3 million viewers". Last year's game 7 between Pittsburgh and Detroit got 7.51 million.

http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/20...tv-viewership/

http://www.aroundtherings.com/articl....aspx?id=34129

This isn't 1994 Lillehammer with Tonya clubbing Nancy anymore.

[Puck Swami]

Re: The Official Thread of the Run-Up to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada

That's all nice, Swami, but figure skating gets exactly as much money from NBC for showing their events as the NHL does. Nothing. Their response to a judge scandal was to make all the judge's scores anonymous. The US championships in late January had a total of "5.3 million viewers". Last year's game 7 between Pittsburgh and Detroit got 7.51 million.

http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/20...tv-viewership/

http://www.aroundtherings.com/articl....aspx?id=34129

This isn't 1994 Lillehammer with Tonya clubbing Nancy anymore.

It's not about fees. Figure skating totally dominates Olympic ratings every Winter Games vs every othre Olympic Winter Sport, Tonya or Not. And that's where the women viewers are. And that's why hockey gets shunted to MSNBC or CNBC, etc. Stanely Cup games and US Championships don't matter to Olympic Ratings. Put the Rings on it, and people watch.

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The Official Thread of the Run-Up to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada

Just think how great of ratings figure skating would get if they skanked it up a little bit! Low cut tops, a little more bulging out, some jiggling...then they could capture the male audience too!

NBC is smart.

I wouldn't go that far.

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Re: The Official Thread of the Run-Up to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada

Just think how great of ratings figure skating would get if they skanked it up a little bit! Low cut tops, a little more bulging out, some jiggling...then they could capture the male audience too!

and if more than half of the competitors were of age

[Patman]

Re: The Official Thread of the Run-Up to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada

Here's a thought... maybe they can sell more adverts for an ice skating event than for an ice hockey event. I have to figure if you go to commerical after every 1-2 routines then you may be able to squeeze in more ads than you do for ice hockey. Do we even know if they will have TV time outs for the ice hockey competition?

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The Official Thread of the Run-Up to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada

and if more than half of the competitors were of age

a .500 average is good enough to get you in the MLB Hall of Fame.

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Re: The Official Thread of the Run-Up to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada

The doping issues have already begun.

http://sports.espn.go.com/olympics/w...ory?id=4905798

[goldy_331]

Re: The Official Thread of the Run-Up to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada

a .500 average is good enough to get you in the MLB Hall of Fame.

...assuming you get enough times at bat...

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The Official Thread of the Run-Up to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada

...assuming you get enough times at bat...

I'd settle for 3 or 4 "at bats" with most of those figure skaters.

[collegehcky2]

Re: The Official Thread of the Run-Up to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada

The doping issues have already begun.

http://sports.espn.go.com/olympics/w...ory?id=4905798

**** curlers.

[unofan]

Re: The Official Thread of the Run-Up to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada

NBC is smart.

Yeah, which is why they gutted Sci-Fi...err.."SyFy", consistently screw up their late night programming, and are dead last in prime time ratings among the 4 networks.

NBC is anything but smart.

[Jimjamesak]

Re: The Official Thread of the Run-Up to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada

Who watches figure skating?

70% of women consider themselves figure skating fans
54% of the total population 12+ is interested in figure skating
68% are women age 25-54
65% 1+ years in college
63% are in $50M+ income households
Figure skating fans are educated and affluent
Figure skating is the highest-ranked sport among the U.S. population 12+ in fan base
Women sports fans prefer to watch figure skating over college basketball, college football, tennis and the NHL
Figure skating is the most popular spectator sport among American women and their teenage daughters.

Bingo. I tell my wife the Winter Olympics start tomorrow and the first thing she says: "When does the Figure Skating start?"