Many Olympics viewers were upset today because NBC did not offer live streaming of the Olympic opening ceremonies. The ceremonies took place in London, five hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. So right about the time NBC began to broadcast the ceremonies, spectators in London were filing out of the stadium.
I can see how it's frustrating in our digital world to be forced to wait to watch an event that already happened. However, plenty of sports events, such as tennis' Wimbledon and the French Open, are broadcast in the U.S. on a time delay due to the time difference. I guess the people who really want to see it live will find it live online. Others are happy to watch on delay at a decent hour.
I can also understand why NBC decided not to stream. They've agreed to stream all other Olympic events live (to cable subscribers), which is probably one reason for the backlash. However, NBC definitely gains more viewers in prime time than in the afternoon. In order to serve advertisers with the millions of viewers promised, NBC needs to show the ceremonies in prime time. If they showed it twice, they run into timeshifting.
As this is the first time in history that the games have been available for live streaming online, do you think someday the opening ceremonies will be streamed live as well? I think it largely depends on the advertising metrics we use. As more people look to live online streaming, advertisers' dollars will hopefully follow, as long as they can measure their return.
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