NBC goes for ratings gold on Winter Olympics coverage

PASADENA — NBC executives have as much interest in earning gold as any athlete competing in the 2010 Winter Olympics starting Friday in Vancouver.

The network needs the Games to generate high viewing numbers and big financial returns because it paid $2.2 billion for the rights to televise the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games in the U.S.

There is reason to be concerned, considering how poorly the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, did in the ratings. According to A.C. Nielsen, which tracks viewership numbers, that was the least-watched Winter Olympics in prime time. The average of 20.2 million viewers wasn’t enough to surpass “Dancing With the Stars,” “Lost,” “Survivor,” “CSI” and the juggernaut “American Idol.”

Everything from tape-delayed coverage to American apathy with the Winter Olympics was blamed. Whatever the reason, NBC needs to finish on the winner’s podium this year.

Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports and Olympics and executive producer of the Vancouver Olympics, is confident this year will be different.

“Torino showed that the Winter Olympics can be pretty vulnerable to strong reality programming when the Olympics are on tape,” he says.

Some Torino events were tape delayed by as many as 18 hours for the West Coast. In Vancouver, almost all of the coverage will be live.

NBC is getting some help from the other networks, which shifted some competitive programming. The Games will still face “American Idol” on Fox, but CBS moved the Grammys from February to January, and ABC shifted the Oscar telecast from February to March. ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” won’t start until after the last medal has been handed out.

“I do think we will do much better against ‘Idol’ those four nights than we did from Torino because we are live,” Ebersol says.

Coverage also has been expanded to sister stations, such as CNBC and MSNBC. Between NBC, its cable channels and online package, 835 hours of the Winter Games will be shown. That’s more than Torino (419) and Salt Lake City (375.5) combined (794.5). Almost 50 hours of coverage will be available daily.

One thing that can help boost ratings is strong story lines from the athletes.

Figure skating has always been one of the big draws of the Winter Olympics. Bob Costas, the 20-time Emmy Award-winner who will be this year’s primetime host, expects figure skating to be a big draw this year.

Early advertising by NBC has promoted speedskating, skiing and snowboarding.

The drama of the Games, Costas says, is that the Olympics are like no other sport. Fans can watch their favorite football, basketball or baseball player in multiple games that cover months of a season. The Olympics come down to one moment every four years.

“They labor and practice and prime themselves for this in relative obscurity, and then they step out of the shadows and into the biggest spotlight in all of international sports. If it works out for them, it can be something that people remember for a lifetime,” Costas says. “If it doesn’t, often in the blink of an eye, that might be their only chance or, at best, they have to wait a full four years to have another chance.”

Despite that drama, advertisers haven’t been overwhelmingly excited. Commercial sales were slow the first half of 2009, blamed mostly on the economic recession, but have picked up in recent months. Advertising sales at local NBC affiliate KSEE (Channel 24.1) have gone the same way. “Most sales have culminated since the beginning of the year,” says Matt Rosenfeld, KSEE president/general manager.

Ebersol says advertising sales should equal those for the past two Winter Olympics. But, that’s not good enough. With rights fees so high, NBC could end up about $200 million short — making this the first time the network will lose money on the Games. NBC placed the winning bid in 2003 when the economy and its schedule was much stronger.

In one way NBC is already a winner.

Even if the telecasts have fewer viewers than such shows as “American Idol,” the ratings will likely be higher than the network’s regular lineup. Except for its “Sunday Night Football” telecasts, NBC programs rarely crack the ratings top 20. TV and movie critic Rick Bentley can be reached at rbentley@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6355. Read his blog at fresnobeehive.com.