NBC Olympics Coverage Sees Mixed Results

NBC Universal’s $1 billion ad budget for the Beijing Olympics has paid off, MediaPost reports, with ratings surpassing the network’s expectations. But the $5.75 million spent on online video ads was “only a drop in the bucket,” according to a new estimate by eMarketer—even with all of the mobile initiatives.

In a savvy observation—and one that’s been learned and relearned over the years with various tech companies—eMarketer said in the report that requiring users to download Microsoft’s Silverlight media player to watch video coverage on NBCOlympics.com instead of relying on Adobe Flash limited the potential size of the video audience. In other words, Microsoft was being greedy by force feeding its new software to fans.

NBC also came under fire for only putting some of its Olympics content on the Web, saving all of the high-profile events for coverage on TV only. Still, the report said that the effort proved the viability of online marketing of major sports events.

David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer, said in the report that he doesn’t fault NBC for not simulcasting the entire Olympics online. “While NBC is certainly protecting its legacy TV business, that isn’t necessarily, in the short term, an unwise thing to do,” he said in the article. “It’s a test to see how much you can put online and how much traffic you can get.”

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