Earning Rings of fire
Millions will tune in to the opening ceremony of the Olympics tonight — but few are more eager for the games to begin than NBC’s long-suffering local stations.
The network’s affiliates across the country hope the Winter Games will not only kick off a strong ratings run, but mark the start of a long-term recovery after NBC’s late-night debacle.
NBC’s decision last fall to put Jay Leno on during primetime five nights a week wreaked havoc with the local TV newscasts that followed at 11 p.m. Late-night newscasts on NBC stations lost, on average, a quarter of their viewers ages 25 to 54, the biggest audience for news.
NBC eventually pulled the plug on the show and returned Leno to his old “Tonight Show” slot, but the damage was done. Affiliates are now counting on the Olympics to give them a much-needed ratings boost and jumpstart NBC’s new 10 p.m. lineup.
“Thank goodness we do have the Olympics,” said one station manager, who asked to remain unnamed. “We do have the ability to promote in the Olympics and it shakes up viewing habits.”
The Winter Olympics fall squarely in the February sweeps period, when stations compete to set ad rates. With NBC airing about 200 hours of Olympics coverage in primetime over 17 days, affiliates are almost guaranteed ratings and ad sales gains during the first quarter.
The 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy, were the lowest-rated Olympics since 1988, averaging about 20 million viewers. But because Vancouver is in the Pacific time zone, most events will air live, which should help ratings. NBC has reportedly guaranteed advertisers a 14 household rating, more than the 12.1 household rating the Torino games pulled.
“The Olympics offer a bit of relief, but I don’t know if it’s the beginning of a long-term upswing,” said Bill Hague, senior vice president at Frank N. Magid Associates, a media-research firm. “I think it’s a hiccup that could prove positive.”
Maybe just as important, NBC will use the Olympics to heavily promote shows that will fill the gaps Leno left at 10 p.m. and serve as the new lead-ins to the local news. In particular, the network is planning to tout “Parenthood,” a drama based on the movie of the same name, and “The Marriage Ref,” a reality show about squabbling couples.
NBC has struggled to produce primetime hits, and there is no guarantee that the new programs will be big successes, but the affiliates are counting on them to be improvements over Leno.
“The way we see this is, effective this Friday, the low [primetime] ratings are a thing of the past,” said Eric Lassberg, general manager at KXAN, the NBC affiliate in Austin, Tex.
