❗Let's close the gap: We still need your help to raise $40,000 by April 1. Donate now

With the Olympics, NBC gets a head start on fall promotion

Queena Kim Aug 6, 2012
HTML EMBED:
COPY

With the Olympics, NBC gets a head start on fall promotion

Queena Kim Aug 6, 2012
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Jeremy Hobson: NBC has been criticized for not running Olympic events live, choosing instead to run them in prime time. It did that yesterday with the much-anticipated men’s 100 meter sprint final. But criticism aside, NBC is looking at strong ratings for the games so far.

And as Queen Kim reports, the Olympics could help the network long after the torch leaves London.


Queena Kim: Olympics aside, NBC’s primetime ratings have been in the pits for nearly a decade. But with 30 million people tuning in the Olympics every night, entertainment analyst Hal Vogel says NBC has a chance to turn things around.

Hal Vogel: Large events in television viewing are quite rare these days because the television audience is quite fragmented and this offers the network an opportunity.

NBC has been using the opportunity to promote its new fall shows like “Go On” with Matthew Perry.

Brad Adgate: I think if you were to tally who’s the biggest sponsor of the Olympics, it’d be NBC promo.

Adgate says the Olympics can only sway audiences so much.

Adgate: They may sample the show but if they don’t like the show they’re not going to watch week two or week three.

Say nothing of the rest of the 22-week season.

I’m Queena Kim for Marketplace.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.