Streaming vs. Tape Delay is not an #NBCFail

NBC has taken a lot of heat in their coverage of the Olympics. Inspiring a trending Twitter hashtag known as #NBCFail. Four days ago the hashtag did not even exist but it burst onto the scene on Sunday.

This hashtag inspired criticism in the mainstream media from across the globe. Here are a sample of top social content talking about the coverage and hashtag.

More #NBCFail Olympics: “Live Streams” Are Not Live – Los Angeles Local News, Weather, and Traffic

#NBCFail: Na era das mídias sociais, críticos se unem no Twitter para reclamar da cobertura atrasada das Olimpíadas | Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas

Amerikanen uiten frustratie over vertraagd uitzenden van de Spelen: #NBCFail – Internet & Media – VK

But, is the problem as large as it seems for NBC? TV Ratings are up 10% over the 2008 Beijing games. Is the tape delayed coverage and posting of results live hurting social activity of the events? Not according to what we see in this chart monitoring social mentions of NBCFail, which shows people are not complaining during work, they are complaining while watching the games at home.

We analyzed the Women’s Gymnastics Team Final a few nights ago, which is arguably the most popular event here in the United States to see if social mentions were impacted by people watching the live stream.
The answer may surprise you. Despite the uproar that NBC is failing or no one is watching the Games because media outlets are leaking the results, the fact that last night the Women’s Gymnastics final saw almost a 1000% spike in mentions in prime time during the tape delay.

Even on an average Olympic day, people are more engaged socially in the evening with the Olympics despite knowing the results and having access to the live stream during the day.

alex

Mere “higher ratings” doesn’t equate to giving NBC the proverbial thumbs-up. Despite the time-delay and potential spoilers, people still want to watch Team USA win gold. This doesn’t mean they’re content with NBC’s offering – which fails on multiple levels. Viewers simply have no choice.
Hank

If they have no other choice of course they’re going to complain while they are home watching it. Its total BS but since we don’t have a choice if we want to watch it we have to do it on their terms.

Simply looking at ratings to gauge their hurt is probably the dumbest thing you can do.
jeff

I want to see more. But some sports we need to see less of. Bicycling, marathons, they could show segments instead of the whole thing. I want to see shooting, and a few other things. With tech. Today couldn’t they do on demand? Or take a poll to see what people want to watch? And less commentary. I tune in to watch athlete’s. So after watching the same boring stuff over and over again, i stopped watching
Belinda Manning

The funniest comment: “…media outlets are leaking the results.” Really? Was it supposed to be kept a secret until NBC decided to disclose? I took note of the final results early in the day and watched at night (in between other other shows). If I had known the coverage would be such a #NBCfail, I would have downloaded BBC software and watched there. Commentary… journalist… pretty bad. And that social media reporting schtick… OMG. That really was the worse. People who are using social media don’t watch tv to “see” it edited. They’re using it! And people who don’t are not watching tv to see what’s going on with people who do. Especially not to see an edited version.
James Pinkerton

I am part of the millions that continue to watch the Olympics after learning who won matches or races. And that’s because while you might know who won, it’s exciting to see how it happened. When I am away from home I use the Dish Remote Access App for my iPad to catch live coverage and recorded matches on my DVR. I watched last night’s recorded primetime coverage on my commute to Dish this morning and was happy to see Jennings and May-Treanor leave as gold medal champions for a third time!