NBC's Competitors Aren't Afraid Of The Olympics - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Mr. Television · 02-10-2006, 03:10 AM

Network Competitors Set to Skate All Over NBC's Olympics

By Lisa de Moraes
Thursday, February 9, 2006; C01

The Winter Olympics are so over.

Sure, the competition hasn't started yet -- NBC's event coverage kicks in Saturday, after tomorrow's opening ceremonies.

But whereas in the past the Games pretty much owned prime time and the other broadcast networks stayed out of the way, this year those networks intend to swamp the Games coverage with a tsunami of original programming.

So what's different?

No buzz.

"Everyone sensed a lack of buzz -- and they're feeling good about their shows," said one competitor. The Games "are not this insurmountable thing -- 'Idol' scares me a lot more than the Olympics does."

No buzz, because no "personalities" have emerged, the suit explained.

Figure skater Michelle Kwan "is in her eighth Olympics," the executive joked. (Technically, this will be Kwan's fourth Winter Olympics, although in her first she was a backup competitor.) Skier Bode Miller "is the best thing that's ever happened to NBC and I'm not sure anybody's that interested in him."

What else has changed?

NBC's ratings.

"NBC is the fourth-placed network now. Why should the first-, second- or third-placed networks back down because the fourth-placed network has the Olympics?" noted another competitor.

Even though the Games bring a lot of new viewers to the network, NBC, with its ratings substantially down from its heyday, has far less ability to promote the Olympics than four years ago. It's not an appointment network anymore.

"This is the first time NBC has had the Olympics where they haven't been the number one network," Fox scheduling guru Preston Beckman said.

So, for the first time, the Olympics will face original episodes of "Survivor." Four years ago, CBS waited until after the Winter Games to debut an edition of its tribal competition.

The Games also will tangle with "Dancing With the Stars."

Plus, original episodes of "Desperate Housewives."

And "Grey's Anatomy."

"Lost."

"24."

"House."

And, biggest of all, for the very first time, "American Idol."

"Idol" is averaging more than 34 million viewers on Tuesdays and nearly 32 million on Wednesdays this season -- up 11 and 19 percent compared with last season.

That's appointment television on almost every night of the week.

The most watched shows aren't on NBC. So it's not like any of the biggest shows in the prime-time firmament are being rested by NBC while it airs the Winter Games.

NBC's most watched prime-time program is "Law & Order: SVU," which ranks No. 21 for the season to date.

Fox's "American Idol" is No. 1.

And the Winter Olympics will face a mess of "Idol" over its 16 days.

Seven hours on five nights, to be exact, including the usual two hours next week, plus expanded two-hour editions Feb. 21 and Feb. 22.

(Staring at a two-hour "Idol" and the Olympics, ABC did blink on that night and is airing a rerun of the "Lost" pilot instead of a new episode because, as ABC scheduling chief Jeff Bader told the Associated Press, "there are certain programming combinations that you don't want to go up against -- we're better off saving an original.")

And, to commemorate the Games, Fox has added a one-hour "Idol" edition on Thursday, Feb. 23.

A perfect storm is brewing that night.

NBC's Olympics coverage, including the women's figure skating finals (aka the Winter Olympics Ratings Motherlode), must overcome not only that "Idol" show -- in which two women and two men will get whacked from the singing competition -- but also the final night of competition on the second edition of ABC's hit "Dancing With the Stars" and an original episode of CBS's reality staple "Survivor."

"It's one time period where we think all matter might be sucked into," joked another exec at a competing network.

Broadcasters also are being bullish because prime-time Olympicasts will not be live; four years ago, the Winter Olympics hailed from Salt Lake City, where the time difference was not such an issue.

Also, competition results are easily obtained by viewers, who are four years more Internet-savvy. So if Michelle Kwan gets to the finals and you find out in advance she does not win, "you're probably not going to watch it," one of the competitors speculated. (On the other hand, another noted, if you find out she did, you're probably going to tune in.)

And, speaking of figure skating, there's a whole lot of it in NBC's prime time for the next two weeks, even though that sport skews toward older women.

Which explains, only in part, why the country's most watched network, CBS, will run more repeats against the Games than its competitors. CBS's audience includes a larger percentage of those older viewers but its prime-time slate is also riddled with drama series that are not serialized. Dramas that are not serialized repeat well. Dramas that are serialized -- think "Lost," "24" -- don't.

Added to which, this February -- a ratings sweeps month -- is anomalous, what with ABC having the Super Bowl and NBC the Olympics.

"You look at the season and lay it out where you think you can best utilize your originals," CBS scheduling chief Kelly Kahl noted. "We made the determination this was not the most effective place to use them."

robyrob · 02-10-2006, 08:50 AM

when's the hockey on?

Johnny S · 02-10-2006, 06:40 PM

Hockey will be on every night on CBC if you live in Canada! I can't wait!

db108108 · 02-12-2006, 05:36 PM

Interestingly enough, their strategy is working. Ratings for the Olympics on Friday and Saturday hit more than 20 million viewers, BUT the other networks did not suffer one bit, except CBS, which is running and hiding. Interesting.

Pavan · 02-12-2006, 06:48 PM

Olympics vs. DH tonight...winner DH. While the Olympics did well Friday and last night, they are way down from what they should be.

db108108 · 02-13-2006, 01:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pavanbadal

Olympics vs. DH tonight...winner DH. While the Olympics did well Friday and last night, they are way down from what they should be.

I'm more interested in seeing how much of last week's aud Grey's Anatomy manages to retain.

I was really surprised at the ratings for Dancing With The Stars on Friday. It's a very older skewing show, so the Olympics should be eating into its ratings. But that didn't happen. The Friday results show drew a 9.7 rating, down only slightly from the 10.2 last week. Even CBS's repeats are performing at normal repeat levels so far.

Brent88 · 02-13-2006, 02:47 AM

I'm very conflicted about tonight. My gut says DH and Grey's will top the Olympics, but I just don't know. I'm also interested to see how well Grey does.

Oh and CBS is really in trouble this month with all the repeats. Maybe they should have done what ABC is doing with a few shows... one new episode and one repeat.

Mr. Television · 02-13-2006, 02:49 AM

It hasn't even faced AI yet. I'm waiting to see what it does then.

Brent88 · 02-13-2006, 02:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by I Walk The Line

It hasn't even faced AI yet. I'm waiting to see what it does then.

If DH and/or Grey's beats it tonight, then Idol defintely will.

I found it sad that NBC had to say in it's press release that it was the highest-rated program on the network since Athens 2004. Ouch.

Mr. Television · 02-13-2006, 02:45 PM

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Fast National ratings for Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006
"Grey's Anatomy" out-rated its lead-in, "Desperate Housewives," for the first time on Sunday, but NBC's Olympics coverage was able to slide past ABC for an overall ratings win.

NBC scored a 13.2 rating/20 share in primetime, beating out ABC's 11.3/17. CBS took third with a 6.0/9. FOX, 3.4/5, came in fourth, and The WB trailed with a 1.7/3.

ABC managed to grab a victory among adults 18-49 with a 7.7 rating. NBC was right behind at 7.2. FOX was third at 2.6, followed by CBS, 2.0, and The WB, 1.1.
The first hour of prime-time Olympics coverage delivered an 11.6/18 for NBC at 7 p.m. CBS' "60 Minutes," 7.6/12, was second. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" was third for ABC at 6.2/10. "Malcolm in the Middle" and a "King of the Hill" rerun averaged 2.5/4 for FOX. The WB aired an hour of "Reba."

The Olympics improved to 14.0/20 at 8 p.m. with coverage of snowboarding, short-track speedskating and the men's downhill. ABC jumped up to second with another hour of "EM: Home Edition," 9.2/13. A "Cold Case" rerun was third for CBS at 6.5/9. Repeats of "The Simpsons" and "The War at Home" kept FOX in fourth. "Charmed" averaged 2.1/3 for The WB.

NBC peaked at 9 p.m. with a 14.7/21, beating ABC's "Desperate Housewives," 14.5/20 (although ABC had the lead among younger viewers). CBS aired the movie "The Sum of All Fears." FOX went with reruns of "Family Guy," 4.0/6, and "American Dad," 3.5/5, and The WB was fifth with a "Charmed" repeat.

At 10 p.m., "Grey's Anatomy" conlcuded its post-Super Bowl cliffhanger with a 15.4/24, topping an original "Housewives" for the first time ever. The Olympics scored a 12.4/19 for the hour, while CBS' movie came in at 4.7/7.

Brent88 · 02-13-2006, 04:08 PM

First off... The Olympics are doing BAD(for Olympics standards). I think CBS is going to re-think this all repeat strategy and maybe add some new episodes for next week.

WOW!!! Grey's beat DH for the first time ever.

This show deserves to move and prop up another night.

Zebra 3 · 02-14-2006, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny S

Hockey will be on every night on CBC if you live in Canada! I can't wait!

+

=

Brent88 · 02-14-2006, 11:24 PM

HORRIBLE ratings last night(well, for the Olympics).

A new CSI: Miami would have been VERY close(within .1 or .2 ratings points) at 10pm...

Olympics Bring More Ratings Gold to NBC Monday
(Tuesday, February 14 08:54 AM)
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Fast National ratings for Monday, Feb. 13, 2006

Night four of the Winter Olympics brought NBC another ratings victory Monday, but the other networks didn't suffer too badly from the competition.

NBC averaged a 12.8 rating/19 share in primetime to win by a comfortable margin. CBS, airing mostly repeats, was second at 7.5/11, and ABC and FOX tied for third at 6.2/9 (though FOX had more total viewers, 10.1 million to 9.1 million). The WB took fifth at 3.0/4, beating UPN's 2.1/3.

Among adults 18-49, NBC's 6.5 rating led the way. FOX came in second with a 4.0, followed closely by ABC, 3.9, and CBS, 3.7. The WB averaged 1.6 and UPN 1.3.

NBC began its night from Turin with a 12.1/18 at 8 p.m. CBS was second with repeats of "The King of Queens," 6.3/10, and "How I Met Your Mother," 5.5/8. A "Wife Swap" rerun was third for ABC, beating FOX's "Skating with Celebrities," which posted a 4.9/7. The WB got a 4.0/6 from "7th Heaven." UPN trailed with "One on One" and "All of Us."

The Olympics improved to 13.4/19 at 9 p.m. with coverage of pairs figure skating, snowboarding and speedskating. CBS stayed in second with a
"Two and a Half Men" rerun, 8.8/12, and "Courting Alex," 7.2/10. FOX grabbed third with "24," 7.5/11, dropping ABC to fourth with "The Bachelor: Paris," 6.1/9. UPN's "Girlfriends" and "Half & Half" averaged 2.4/3, good enough to beat "Related" on The WB.

The Winter Games scored a 13.0/20 at 10 p.m. to complete NBC's sweep of the night. A "CSI: Miami" rerun averaged 8.7/13 for CBS, while hour two of "The Bachelor" scored a 6.8/10.

bschmale1113 · 02-15-2006, 02:24 PM

Idol Killed the Olympics American Idol's" Hollywood auditions scored a 15.1/23, the night's best rating, at 8 p.m. The Olympics were second for NBC at 10.0/15, but FOX held a huge lead among younger viewers (11.1 in 18-49 to 4.1 for NBC).

NBC took the overall lead at 9 p.m. as the Olympics improved to 12.5/19. FOX dropped to second with "House," 11.9/18 (and still led among adults 18-49).

GoldenFamilyTies · 02-15-2006, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brent88

First off... The Olympics are doing BAD(for Olympics standards). I think CBS is going to re-think this all repeat strategy and maybe add some new episodes for next week.

WOW!!! Grey's beat DH for the first time ever.

This show deserves to move and prop up another night.

I agree 100%. ABC needs to use Grey's surge in popularity to their advantage, and build up other nights of the week. Then, maybe a new hit can be spawned right after DH. Maybe some new comedies that would greatly appeal to the DH crowd?

02-10-2006, 03:10 AM	#1
Mr. Television 23 Years at Sitcoms Online Forum Icon Join Date: Jun 06, 2003 Location: Somewhere you're Not Posts: 62,132	NBC's Competitors Aren't Afraid Of The Olympics Network Competitors Set to Skate All Over NBC's Olympics By Lisa de Moraes Thursday, February 9, 2006; C01 The Winter Olympics are so over. Sure, the competition hasn't started yet -- NBC's event coverage kicks in Saturday, after tomorrow's opening ceremonies. But whereas in the past the Games pretty much owned prime time and the other broadcast networks stayed out of the way, this year those networks intend to swamp the Games coverage with a tsunami of original programming. So what's different? No buzz. "Everyone sensed a lack of buzz -- and they're feeling good about their shows," said one competitor. The Games "are not this insurmountable thing -- 'Idol' scares me a lot more than the Olympics does." No buzz, because no "personalities" have emerged, the suit explained. Figure skater Michelle Kwan "is in her eighth Olympics," the executive joked. (Technically, this will be Kwan's fourth Winter Olympics, although in her first she was a backup competitor.) Skier Bode Miller "is the best thing that's ever happened to NBC and I'm not sure anybody's that interested in him." What else has changed? NBC's ratings. "NBC is the fourth-placed network now. Why should the first-, second- or third-placed networks back down because the fourth-placed network has the Olympics?" noted another competitor. Even though the Games bring a lot of new viewers to the network, NBC, with its ratings substantially down from its heyday, has far less ability to promote the Olympics than four years ago. It's not an appointment network anymore. "This is the first time NBC has had the Olympics where they haven't been the number one network," Fox scheduling guru Preston Beckman said. So, for the first time, the Olympics will face original episodes of "Survivor." Four years ago, CBS waited until after the Winter Games to debut an edition of its tribal competition. The Games also will tangle with "Dancing With the Stars." Plus, original episodes of "Desperate Housewives." And "Grey's Anatomy." "Lost." "24." "House." And, biggest of all, for the very first time, "American Idol." "Idol" is averaging more than 34 million viewers on Tuesdays and nearly 32 million on Wednesdays this season -- up 11 and 19 percent compared with last season. That's appointment television on almost every night of the week. The most watched shows aren't on NBC. So it's not like any of the biggest shows in the prime-time firmament are being rested by NBC while it airs the Winter Games. NBC's most watched prime-time program is "Law & Order: SVU," which ranks No. 21 for the season to date. Fox's "American Idol" is No. 1. And the Winter Olympics will face a mess of "Idol" over its 16 days. Seven hours on five nights, to be exact, including the usual two hours next week, plus expanded two-hour editions Feb. 21 and Feb. 22. (Staring at a two-hour "Idol" and the Olympics, ABC did blink on that night and is airing a rerun of the "Lost" pilot instead of a new episode because, as ABC scheduling chief Jeff Bader told the Associated Press, "there are certain programming combinations that you don't want to go up against -- we're better off saving an original.") And, to commemorate the Games, Fox has added a one-hour "Idol" edition on Thursday, Feb. 23. A perfect storm is brewing that night. NBC's Olympics coverage, including the women's figure skating finals (aka the Winter Olympics Ratings Motherlode), must overcome not only that "Idol" show -- in which two women and two men will get whacked from the singing competition -- but also the final night of competition on the second edition of ABC's hit "Dancing With the Stars" and an original episode of CBS's reality staple "Survivor." "It's one time period where we think all matter might be sucked into," joked another exec at a competing network. Broadcasters also are being bullish because prime-time Olympicasts will not be live; four years ago, the Winter Olympics hailed from Salt Lake City, where the time difference was not such an issue. Also, competition results are easily obtained by viewers, who are four years more Internet-savvy. So if Michelle Kwan gets to the finals and you find out in advance she does not win, "you're probably not going to watch it," one of the competitors speculated. (On the other hand, another noted, if you find out she did, you're probably going to tune in.) And, speaking of figure skating, there's a whole lot of it in NBC's prime time for the next two weeks, even though that sport skews toward older women. Which explains, only in part, why the country's most watched network, CBS, will run more repeats against the Games than its competitors. CBS's audience includes a larger percentage of those older viewers but its prime-time slate is also riddled with drama series that are not serialized. Dramas that are not serialized repeat well. Dramas that are serialized -- think "Lost," "24" -- don't. Added to which, this February -- a ratings sweeps month -- is anomalous, what with ABC having the Super Bowl and NBC the Olympics. "You look at the season and lay it out where you think you can best utilize your originals," CBS scheduling chief Kelly Kahl noted. "We made the determination this was not the most effective place to use them."
	__________________ Sonny

02-10-2006, 08:50 AM	#2
robyrob certified wackball#3 Moderator Forum Icon Join Date: Aug 03, 2003 Location: hiding under the third booth at Arnold's Posts: 58,200	when's the hockey on?
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02-10-2006, 06:40 PM	#3
Johnny S Member Senior Member Join Date: Aug 15, 2005 Location: My Own Personal Hell! Posts: 1,009	Hockey will be on every night on CBC if you live in Canada! I can't wait!
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02-12-2006, 06:48 PM	#5
Pavan SO News/Reviews Director Administrator Forum Superstar Join Date: Feb 17, 2000 Location: Linden, NJ (Where Hal Linden got his last name from!) Posts: 26,821	Olympics vs. DH tonight...winner DH. While the Olympics did well Friday and last night, they are way down from what they should be.
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02-13-2006, 02:47 AM	#7
Brent88 Member Forum Star Join Date: Aug 01, 2003 Location: Alabama Posts: 16,174	I'm very conflicted about tonight. My gut says DH and Grey's will top the Olympics, but I just don't know. I'm also interested to see how well Grey does. Oh and CBS is really in trouble this month with all the repeats. Maybe they should have done what ABC is doing with a few shows... one new episode and one repeat.
	__________________ Brent

02-12-2006, 05:36 PM	#4
db108108 Teacher (for now) Senior Member Join Date: Mar 20, 2003 Location: 2 hours north of Detroit, 2 hours south of Toronto Posts: 1,023	Interestingly enough, their strategy is working. Ratings for the Olympics on Friday and Saturday hit more than 20 million viewers, BUT the other networks did not suffer one bit, except CBS, which is running and hiding. Interesting.

02-13-2006, 02:49 AM	#8
Mr. Television 23 Years at Sitcoms Online Forum Icon Join Date: Jun 06, 2003 Location: Somewhere you're Not Posts: 62,132	It hasn't even faced AI yet. I'm waiting to see what it does then.

02-13-2006, 02:45 PM	#10
Mr. Television 23 Years at Sitcoms Online Forum Icon Join Date: Jun 06, 2003 Location: Somewhere you're Not Posts: 62,132	LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Fast National ratings for Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006 "Grey's Anatomy" out-rated its lead-in, "Desperate Housewives," for the first time on Sunday, but NBC's Olympics coverage was able to slide past ABC for an overall ratings win. NBC scored a 13.2 rating/20 share in primetime, beating out ABC's 11.3/17. CBS took third with a 6.0/9. FOX, 3.4/5, came in fourth, and The WB trailed with a 1.7/3. ABC managed to grab a victory among adults 18-49 with a 7.7 rating. NBC was right behind at 7.2. FOX was third at 2.6, followed by CBS, 2.0, and The WB, 1.1. The first hour of prime-time Olympics coverage delivered an 11.6/18 for NBC at 7 p.m. CBS' "60 Minutes," 7.6/12, was second. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" was third for ABC at 6.2/10. "Malcolm in the Middle" and a "King of the Hill" rerun averaged 2.5/4 for FOX. The WB aired an hour of "Reba." The Olympics improved to 14.0/20 at 8 p.m. with coverage of snowboarding, short-track speedskating and the men's downhill. ABC jumped up to second with another hour of "EM: Home Edition," 9.2/13. A "Cold Case" rerun was third for CBS at 6.5/9. Repeats of "The Simpsons" and "The War at Home" kept FOX in fourth. "Charmed" averaged 2.1/3 for The WB. NBC peaked at 9 p.m. with a 14.7/21, beating ABC's "Desperate Housewives," 14.5/20 (although ABC had the lead among younger viewers). CBS aired the movie "The Sum of All Fears." FOX went with reruns of "Family Guy," 4.0/6, and "American Dad," 3.5/5, and The WB was fifth with a "Charmed" repeat. At 10 p.m., "Grey's Anatomy" conlcuded its post-Super Bowl cliffhanger with a 15.4/24, topping an original "Housewives" for the first time ever. The Olympics scored a 12.4/19 for the hour, while CBS' movie came in at 4.7/7.

02-13-2006, 04:08 PM	#11
Brent88 Member Forum Star Join Date: Aug 01, 2003 Location: Alabama Posts: 16,174	First off... The Olympics are doing BAD(for Olympics standards). I think CBS is going to re-think this all repeat strategy and maybe add some new episodes for next week. WOW!!! Grey's beat DH for the first time ever. This show deserves to move and prop up another night.

02-14-2006, 11:24 PM	#13
Brent88 Member Forum Star Join Date: Aug 01, 2003 Location: Alabama Posts: 16,174	HORRIBLE ratings last night(well, for the Olympics). A new CSI: Miami would have been VERY close(within .1 or .2 ratings points) at 10pm... Olympics Bring More Ratings Gold to NBC Monday (Tuesday, February 14 08:54 AM) LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Fast National ratings for Monday, Feb. 13, 2006 Night four of the Winter Olympics brought NBC another ratings victory Monday, but the other networks didn't suffer too badly from the competition. NBC averaged a 12.8 rating/19 share in primetime to win by a comfortable margin. CBS, airing mostly repeats, was second at 7.5/11, and ABC and FOX tied for third at 6.2/9 (though FOX had more total viewers, 10.1 million to 9.1 million). The WB took fifth at 3.0/4, beating UPN's 2.1/3. Among adults 18-49, NBC's 6.5 rating led the way. FOX came in second with a 4.0, followed closely by ABC, 3.9, and CBS, 3.7. The WB averaged 1.6 and UPN 1.3. NBC began its night from Turin with a 12.1/18 at 8 p.m. CBS was second with repeats of "The King of Queens," 6.3/10, and "How I Met Your Mother," 5.5/8. A "Wife Swap" rerun was third for ABC, beating FOX's "Skating with Celebrities," which posted a 4.9/7. The WB got a 4.0/6 from "7th Heaven." UPN trailed with "One on One" and "All of Us." The Olympics improved to 13.4/19 at 9 p.m. with coverage of pairs figure skating, snowboarding and speedskating. CBS stayed in second with a "Two and a Half Men" rerun, 8.8/12, and "Courting Alex," 7.2/10. FOX grabbed third with "24," 7.5/11, dropping ABC to fourth with "The Bachelor: Paris," 6.1/9. UPN's "Girlfriends" and "Half & Half" averaged 2.4/3, good enough to beat "Related" on The WB. The Winter Games scored a 13.0/20 at 10 p.m. to complete NBC's sweep of the night. A "CSI: Miami" rerun averaged 8.7/13 for CBS, while hour two of "The Bachelor" scored a 6.8/10.

02-15-2006, 02:24 PM	#14
bschmale1113 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Jan 05, 2004 Location: Stirling NJ Posts: 440	Idol Killed the Olympics American Idol's" Hollywood auditions scored a 15.1/23, the night's best rating, at 8 p.m. The Olympics were second for NBC at 10.0/15, but FOX held a huge lead among younger viewers (11.1 in 18-49 to 4.1 for NBC). NBC took the overall lead at 9 p.m. as the Olympics improved to 12.5/19. FOX dropped to second with "House," 11.9/18 (and still led among adults 18-49).
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