NBC figure skating low ratings

A couple of times I chose the NBC app over the TV!

Fellow G-S Friends- This will be a very unpopular post and I'm okay with that. I realize that this forum provides a voice for the world... certainly not just the US. But, respectfully, there has been much written in this thread that is is simply untrue. And nationalist. Many of these remarks should be stricken and deleted from GS forums. These kind of remarks would not be tolerated if directed toward other countries. Examples:

chopinskate: "The US doesn't care about FS anymore."

zanadude: "Americans generally don't care about things that they don't do well."

brightphoton: "I walked away from my TV and other NBC broadcasts. It's because they randomly jump from sport to sport..."

These remarks were early on the first page of (currently) seven.

Paula and GS moderators. I don't find this acceptable.

America might not be popular, and certainly not presently due to the present executive administration. Do not for one moment think that all Americans are connected to and support this presidency. THIS is false news. But your assumptions are still wrong.

NBC and its affiliates ... specifically NBCSN ... have aired dozens and dozens of hours of skating coverage from Team events to Pairs to Mens LP. This will continue for Dance and Ladies. I watched all 30 Men in SP and all 24 Men in LP. Sure it 'all' aired on pay-for-cable NBCSN (selected programs on primetime NBC). But when has a free major network EVER aired ALL skating events in primetime? Never.

The US can be blamed for many things but not for how sports are televised throughout the world. TV is business. If you're not in US, you have you're own battles for coverage. If you're in US and if you have access to NBCSN (not all carriers provide the coverage)... and want to see ALL skating coverage, pay the extra $ (typically under $10 a month) and enjoy. If you can't pay the extra or don't want to pay the extra, then accept your reduced content. I have extremely modest means... but if I'm passionate about one thing - skating- I can give up one pizza a month to have access to as much skating (gymnastics, swimming, diving) as is available. For as long as it's available.

Sorry... "blame it on the US" may often apply. But not for television coverage of a sporting event... albeit ... for us... THE sporting event.

Tonichelle said:

I think it also doesn't help that the US is "sucking" in this Olympics. Normally our medal count is much higher.

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So how does NBC/NBCSN know when a competition will suck? Was coverage upped or downed on speculation? No. NBCSN covered all 30 men in SP and all 24 in LP.

moonvine said:

Much as I complain about the commentary on NBC, I am grateful to be able to watch so much figure skating on TV, particularly on NBCSN and the Olympic Channel. So this really worries me.

http://deadline.com/2018/02/nathan-...mpics-ratings-low-pyeongchang-nbc-1202292972/

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Interestingly, the article mentioned NBC and NBCSN ratings including digital platforms. But I am unclear if their ratings tally includes people watching on nbcolympics.com, as I sometimes did, rather than choosing to stream NBCSN coverage.

mrrice said:

I'm waiting for him to show up on YouTube. If someone has a link, I'd be more than happy to see it sooner....

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https://oload.stream/f/3asTspUuAvE/WOG2018_Vincent_ZHOU_SP.mp4

anonymoose_au said:

I think if you go premium you can maybe watch figure skating when you want (they seem to suggest that during the coverage) but I don't have money for that...

Incidentally they sometimes replay the stream for non-premium people...at 1 in the morning.

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I did,however, found that they uploaded the summary on Youtube. So I watch the youtube version after work (or the live stream it if I managed to line up my lunch breaks with the programs I want to watch -.-b)

By the way, who is the lady commentator? I really like her.

sillyant said:

I did,however, found that they uploaded the summary on Youtube. So I watch the youtube version after work (or the live stream it if I managed to line up my lunch breaks with the programs I want to watch -.-b)

By the way, who is the lady commentator? I really like her.

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That's Belinda Noonan, she competed in both ladies and pairs for Australia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belinda_Noonan - interesting enough it seems she started in pairs, went to singles, then came back to pairs! So she knows a lot She also commentated on gymnastics during the Summer Olympics if I'm remembering right, so a lady of many talents!

There's way too many things competing for eyeballs. Not surprising ratings are down.

But just to be petty, I have to add that Tara and Johnny are an unlikeable mess and I feel like they've gotten progressively worse. Like others have mentioned, I switch on my VPN and pretend to be from Toronto. At least the CBC seems to have some reverence for the sport.

Not saying Tara and Johnny are my favorite commentators (although I don’t mind them), but I seriously doubt that US prime time TV ratings for NBC’s Olympics coverage would be higher than what they are if NBC had Tracy Wilson/ Kurt Browning/ Carol Lane/ Chris Howarth/ Simon Reed/ Robin Cousins/ take your pick/ as commentators for figure skating, all else being equal.

Am I the only person who has watched almost the entire Olympics on my iPhone via the NBC Sports app? It’s not perfect, it’s not cheap, it still has commercials, but it’s not bad, and it’s extremely convenient. They stream practices and trials as well as the events themselves, and you can replay anything on demand. The FS commentators are an Aussie woman and a Canadian man, and while their chemistry isn’t perfect, she is pretty knowledgeable and he’s kind of endearing in his attempts to understand more about FS.

iPhone is my preferred way of viewing FS, and I loathe the fact that Ice Network’s flash tech is still incompatible with it. I occasionally watch anyway using the photon browser but it’s not a great viewing experience.

There's such an imbalance between the various portals and the availability of broadcasting and commentary. Feels like the NBCOlympics.com online is like pirated from a foreign country pirated webcast at times.

Amei said:

Well how many people actually get NBCSN and the Olympic channel? I have an 'upgraded' cable package and have NBCSN but don't get the Olympic channel.

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Thank you. I cannot afford Spectrum expect for basic which does not include NBCSN and prohibits me from even watching it online. Thank goodness for Twitch.

dailytg20 said:

There's way too many things competing for eyeballs. Not surprising ratings are down.

But just to be petty, I have to add that Tara and Johnny are an unlikeable mess and I feel like they've gotten progressively worse. Like others have mentioned, I switch on my VPN and pretend to be from Toronto. At least the CBC seems to have some reverence for the sport.

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I am curious now what has been the rating like in CBC, it will be hilarious if it is on the rise!! Not only US want to emigrate there because of Trump, now they are switching over their tv to get news updates there instead lol...

"Citing data from ratings tracker Numeris, the CBC said Monday that almost two-thirds of all Canadians (65 per cent) have tuned in to CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of Pyeongchang 2018, with a total of 23.4 million in Canada watching at least part of broadcasts across all English and French television network partners and digital streaming simulcasts on the CBC’s Olympics websites and its apps. The data was from Feb. 7-11."


Also:

https://www.pressreader.com/canada/the-globe-and-mail-prairie-edition/20180214/282303910602006

9.6 million Canadians watched part of the team event with a peak rating of 3.6 (about 10% of the entire population) This would not count all the streamers-which can be done for free on the CBC website.

Ratings in Canada are up over Sochi but the Sochi ratings were very good too.

Tavi... said:

Am I the only person who has watched almost the entire Olympics on my iPhone via the NBC Sports app? It’s not perfect, it’s not cheap, it still has commercials, but it’s not bad, and it’s extremely convenient. They stream practices and trials as well as the events themselves, and you can replay anything on demand. The FS commentators are an Aussie woman and a Canadian man, and while their chemistry isn’t perfect, she is pretty knowledgeable and he’s kind of endearing in his attempts to understand more about FS.

iPhone is my preferred way of viewing FS, and I loathe the fact that Ice Network’s flash tech is still incompatible with it. I occasionally watch anyway using the photon browser but it’s not a great viewing experience.

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I have done the same. If I am feeling really fancy I'll get it running on the computer and hook up the HDMI cord to the tv and voila. I kind of like Belinda Noonan's commentary. I always liked johnny and Tara but it is sounding like their out of control this Olympics so I'm happy I don't have to listen to them.

I got frustrated with cable 3.5 years ago and discontinued it. I signed up for a free week trial of directvnow(AT&T streaming only service) for the first week of the Olympics and kept it for $35/USD per month to continue watching. That gave me streaming access to all the NBC related Olympics viewing content including nbcolympics.com, plus several more streaming versions of other cable networks. (I will probably discontinue the service after my paid month is up). Compared to what I paid per month for cable, I do not consider this price unreasonable. I have posted tips about using VPNs and free streams in the past. I am not a tout for directvnow. Just trying to show there are options besides pricey cable packages etc. I login on my laptop and connect an HDMI cable to my TV for larger viewing/better sound.

Amei said:

Well how many people actually get NBCSN and the Olympic channel? I have an 'upgraded' cable package and have NBCSN but don't get the Olympic channel.

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Personally I think this might be the cusp of the problem. There are still a lot of people out there who don’t have cable and thus do not get NBCSN. And without having a cable provider you can’t even watch on the NBC app, which is ridiculous, because they require you enter your cable provider’s login and password.

Also, with figure skating being held in the mornings, it’s competing with other live competitions at the games which is taking eyes away from figure skating.

Lastly, at times the coverage hasn’t been consistent. For instance, all of the men’s short program was shown on NBCSPN, and not on NBC which would’ve made it accessible to more viewers. The men’s long program again was shown on NBCSPN until the last hour when it then switched to NBC, and when it switched it was abrupt and without warning. One minute they said they’d be back with more skating, the next minute hockey was on. Something similar happened when NBCSPN was broadcasting the pairs competition.

I definitely think access and the inconsistencies in the way it is being broadcast is apart of the reasons why viewership is low.

Tonichelle said:

I think it also doesn't help that the US is "sucking" in this Olympics. Normally our medal count is much higher.

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Yeah, I was going to say this is a huge problem this year. USA has had a lot of near misses, 4th or 5th places, whereas in previous winter Olympics they would get the bronze, and then in events the USA swept, they're only getting one medal this time around like in ski slopestyle. I'm not sure what is going on with USA winter sports, but I'm going to assume the rest of the world is rising to the occasion more than USA is.

largeman said:

Not saying Tara and Johnny are my favorite commentators (although I don’t mind them), but I seriously doubt that US prime time TV ratings for NBC’s Olympics coverage would be higher than what they are if NBC had Tracy Wilson/ Kurt Browning/ Carol Lane/ Chris Howarth/ Simon Reed/ Robin Cousins/ take your pick/ as commentators for figure skating, all else being equal.

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You have an impressive knowledge of CBC/BESP/BBC commentators

yelyoh said:

Thank you. I cannot afford Spectrum expect for basic which does not include NBCSN and prohibits me from even watching it online. Thank goodness for Twitch.

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Can you afford $4 a month for a VPN? Not being snotty, I know some people can't.