After weeks of controversy surrounding the prep for the 2016 Olympics, it finally got started last night. The opening ceremonies featured all kinds of fireworks, world-class athletes in every direction and a tape delay broadcast. You would have thought after having issues with the prep for the event, why would they continue to cause problems,
For some reason, NBC decided to telecast Friday night’s opening ceremony at 8 pm est, despite having the event kick off at 7pm. Since more people were home to watch, NBC chose to edit together to put on a better show. What makes zero sense is the reasoning for the tape delay that was given by John Miller, NBC’s chief marketing officer.
According to Mr. Miller, “ The people who watch the Olympics are not particularly sports fans,” said Miller through Philly.com, “More women watch the Games than men, and for the women, they’re less interested in the result and more interested in the journey. It’s sort of like the ultimate reality show and mini-series wrapped into one. To tell the truth, it has been the complaint of a few sports writers, It has not been the complaint of the vast viewing public.”
In the words of WWE superstar Chris Jericho, John Miller is a stupid idiot. Why is John Miller an idiot ? Well, here are some facts to prove it. A Gallup poll was conducted earlier this week and it pointed out interest in the Olympics from women have dropped drastically while 63% of women planned to watch the 2012 London Olympics, there were only 47% who intended to watch the Rio Games. The last time where men and women were identical in interest in watching the Olympics, you need to go back to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
As far the tape delays not being a “complaint of the vast viewing public,” there was another Gallup poll done during the 2012 London Games. This poll indicated that seven in ten Americans want the marquee events to be both live and on tape delay. It is possible that NBC would possibly gain more viewers with an increase in live coverage.
Someone should tell Mr. Miller it’s not the 1950s anymore and the times are different. John Miller’s views do not match up with the numbers found in the polls.