WEBVTT - Smith on Rio Broadcast Ratings Being Down (Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>This is taking stock with Kathleen Hayes and Pim Fox

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<v Speaker 1>on Bloomberg Radio the Rio Olympics gold medals and swimmers

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<v Speaker 1>telling stories. But let's not forget us gymnasts as well

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<v Speaker 1>as the other athletes who managed to pull off great

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<v Speaker 1>feats of sporting expertise. Is that what NBC has been

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<v Speaker 1>able to do. Here to tell us more, Jerry Smith,

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<v Speaker 1>media reporter, Bloomberg News. He can be followed on Twitter

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<v Speaker 1>at Jerry F. Smith. Great to have you with us, Jerry,

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<v Speaker 1>thanks for being here, Thanks for having me. So do

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<v Speaker 1>you think that the our ratings, Now, I was gonna

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<v Speaker 1>say our ratings like NBC's tell us about the ratings

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<v Speaker 1>that NBC has been able to generate with their coverage

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<v Speaker 1>of the Olympics and the business of advertising, how that

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<v Speaker 1>all works together. Sure. So the ratings NBC's Olympics ratings

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<v Speaker 1>on the brad on its broadcast channel are down about

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen invent so far this year compared to four years ago,

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<v Speaker 1>and they're down even more about among eighteen to forty

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<v Speaker 1>nine year olds, which is that demographic that advertisers really

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<v Speaker 1>want to reach. So, you know, there's a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>different theories for why that is. I mean, you could

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<v Speaker 1>argue that Netflix, for example, four years ago, had half

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<v Speaker 1>as many subscribers as it does today, so it's a

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<v Speaker 1>much more popular. Uh. Snapchat was still in its infancy

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<v Speaker 1>back in two twelve. There's just a lot more entertainment

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<v Speaker 1>options for people than there was four years ago. And

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<v Speaker 1>another theory is that NBC for the first time put

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<v Speaker 1>all of the Olympics online more than six thousand hours,

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<v Speaker 1>and what that might have done is actually deluded the

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<v Speaker 1>ratings on the traditional television broadcast, which is where most

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<v Speaker 1>of their advertising revenue still comes from. All right, well,

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<v Speaker 1>if that we if that's the case, uh, would NBC

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<v Speaker 1>have to make good for the Uh, I don't know

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<v Speaker 1>what you would call it the guarantee east of ratings

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<v Speaker 1>that advertisers thought they were buying. Yes, yeah, NBC says

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<v Speaker 1>that they actually set aside enough extra advertising during the

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<v Speaker 1>Olympics to make the advertisers whole, because they guaranteed the

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<v Speaker 1>advertisers they would reach a certain number of viewers. And UH,

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<v Speaker 1>during the first week at least, they were falling short

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<v Speaker 1>of those guarantees. But looking forward, you know, the ratings

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<v Speaker 1>being down does raise a question about whether NBC can

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<v Speaker 1>continue to make the same sort of advertising revenue and

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<v Speaker 1>profits that it did this year and that it has

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<v Speaker 1>in the past. With the ratings being down this year,

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<v Speaker 1>and if you're looking at those, Olympics are going to

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<v Speaker 1>be in the Asian time zone, which is uh not

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<v Speaker 1>as advantageous as this year in Rio, which was only

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<v Speaker 1>a one hour time difference from New York. So there

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<v Speaker 1>was the ability to show more of the events live

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<v Speaker 1>this year, and this has added importance because of the

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<v Speaker 1>price that NBC's parent company, Cast paid for the exclusive

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<v Speaker 1>US broadcast rights to the Olympics all the way through

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<v Speaker 1>twenty thirty two. They paid twelve billion dollars. That's a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of money. It is a lot of money and Comcast,

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<v Speaker 1>which owens NBC is making a really big bet on

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<v Speaker 1>the Olympics, and a lot of other media companies have

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<v Speaker 1>made similar bets about the value of live sports because

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<v Speaker 1>right now audiences are becoming more and more fragmented, and

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<v Speaker 1>the thinking has been the one sure thing that's still

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<v Speaker 1>going to get large numbers of of live viewers is

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<v Speaker 1>live sports. And NBC did still dominate the television landscape

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<v Speaker 1>for the past two weeks with their Olympics coverage, but

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<v Speaker 1>it is the ratings are down from four years ago,

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<v Speaker 1>and it does raise the question of what what's going

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<v Speaker 1>to happen in future Olympics. What do we know about

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<v Speaker 1>the viewership of NFL, you know, uh, National Football League

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<v Speaker 1>as well as Major League Baseball would have been the

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<v Speaker 1>trends there tell us about some of the demographics that

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<v Speaker 1>these the broadcasters are facing. Yeah, what's really interesting is

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<v Speaker 1>that in some sports the fans are actually getting older. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>Major League Baseball and the NFL have both seen the

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<v Speaker 1>average age um increase about four to seven years, so

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<v Speaker 1>their audience is actually getting older. And what happened with

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<v Speaker 1>the Olympics is the ratings for that younger demographic, the

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen to forty nine year olds, actually they watched less

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<v Speaker 1>of the Olympics than the overall population. So, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>it does raise the question of there's just more entertainment

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<v Speaker 1>options for those younger audiences. NBC did something really interesting

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<v Speaker 1>this year where they had a Snapchat channel and they

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<v Speaker 1>asked BuzzFeed to run their Snapchat channel, and the thinking

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<v Speaker 1>is that they could entice more young viewers who are

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<v Speaker 1>on Snapchat to you know, check out the Olympics. On television,

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<v Speaker 1>and that's really I think going to be a bigger,

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<v Speaker 1>a bigger part of their strategy going forward, where a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of that that next generation of television viewers doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>immediately go on television to to watch the Olympics. Is

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<v Speaker 1>there some is there some way to kind of judge

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<v Speaker 1>which events did really well on the during the Olympics,

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<v Speaker 1>like the US gymnastics. Yeah, I think the big events

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<v Speaker 1>where generally the events that have the big American stars

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<v Speaker 1>like Simone Biles for example. Right, the gymnastics did did well. Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>the swimming did well, but it didn't overall, the Olympics

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<v Speaker 1>were down this year and we will have to see

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<v Speaker 1>how NBC approaches that going forward for future Olympics. I

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<v Speaker 1>want to thank you very much for spending time with me.

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<v Speaker 1>Jerry Smith is our media reporter for Bloomberg News. You

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<v Speaker 1>can follow him on Twitter at Jerry F. Smith. Talking

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<v Speaker 1>about Comcast and NBC shares a Comcast down a little

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<v Speaker 1>bit more than a dollar share right now. This is

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg