NBC Missed Olympic Opportunities

While NBC did provide adequate coverage of the Olympics, they missed several opportunities to promote both the games and their own network.

1. The Closing Ceremony - The most egregious error on NBC's part was to cut away from the pageantry of the closing ceremony to air the reality show "The Marriage Ref". The games were coming to a glorious end and viewers were denied the opportunity to watch, it in its entirety, the whole celebration. Yes, you could watch the final moments of the closing ceremony, if you were willing to sit through "The Marriage Ref" and your late local news....and then stay up until past midnight.

2. The Figure Skating Gala - NBC missed a huge opportunity by opting to air the figure skating exhibition at 6am et/3am pt on sister network MSNBC rather than on NBC. If you weren't specifically looking for this event, you would never have found it. Figure skating is by far the most popular sport at the Winter Olympics and the exhibition is a chance for skaters to perform free of restrictions. Viewers love the more relaxed atmosphere and the chance to see skaters skate to popular music. Yes, NBC showed some of the winners in primetime but why not show the exhibition on NBC in its entirety on Saturday afternoon? Not only did NBC miss the opportunity to show this event, they missed the promotion that they could have placed within this show to promote their own network.

3. Utilizing the networks of NBC - While there was some daytime coverage on NBC's other networks, like USA, CNBC, and MSNBC, there really wasn't enough. NBC had the opportunity to not only show more events but also to bring new viewers to these networks. If they had shown more sports on these networks they could have created more promotions to educate viewers about shows on those networks. For example, during Olympic coverage on CNBC or MSNBC, NBC could have promoted some of its documentaries, such as "Inside Track: Refueling the Business of NASCAR" or "Ultimate Fighting: Fistful of Dollars".

4. Properly promoting programming on NBC - What shows were promoted the most by NBC during the Olympics? Clearly the top two priorities on the list were "The Marriage Ref" and NBC's new Tuesday night drama "Parenthood". Priority number three was obviously Jay Leno and his return to late night. While the promoting of "Parenthood" seems logical, the amount of promotion dedicated to "The Marriage Ref" does not. By promoting "Parenthood", a one hour drama, NBC could build viewership for not just that show but for their whole Tuesday night line-up. Didn't NBC learn anything from the Jay Leno at 10pm debacle? People like dramas at 10pm. Comedies are great, but not at 10pm. Also during the Olympics, NBC ran sporadic promotions for "The Office", "Law & Order" (both the original and SVU), "The Biggest Loser" and "The Apprentice" These are already hits for the network. Maybe they should have concentrated on attracting viewers to some of their new shows, like "Mercy" on Wednesday nights, "Community" on Thursday night or the resurgent "Chuck" on Monday night. And, for goodness sake, "30 Rock" wins award after award and gets not one single promo during the Olympics. Really? What does a show have to do to get some network backing? Oh yeah, have Jerry Seinfeld on it.