Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you know that Rio de Janiero has been chosen as the site for the 2016 Summer Olympics (sorry, Chicago).
A recent piece in THR.com trots out reasons why it may be "welcome news" to the network that ultimately wins the bidding to telecast the games (NBC and ABC/ESPN are said to be interested).
While a domestic city like Chicago, which lost in the first round of the finals, is always a dream for U.S. broadcasters in terms of viewer interest and logistics, Rio de Janeiro's win over Tokyo and Madrid should be welcome news for the networks bidding to cover the Olympics.
The picturesque Brazilian city is in a time zone only one hour ahead of U.S.' East Coast, making live coverage of most of the events possible, an important consideration in the Internet age, when sports results are disseminated instantaneously.
Additionally, Rio is a popular vacation destination for Americans and has an instant name recognition.
What's more, given the large Latin American population in the U.S., having a Latin American city host the Olympics for the first time might provide an extra ratings boost among Latino viewers.
Who knows how the games will be covered in 2016, but the way NBC typically programs their broadcast primetime Olympic coverage, they sometimes even shy away from live coverage of events, lest it interrupt their heavily produced athelete-bio strewn feel good nightly hours, so the time zone difference really only matters for events that would be shown live, either online or via cable networks, all much more lightly watched.
Does anyone think that "hey, I've been there on vacation" really matters for Olympic ratings? And even if it does, have that many more Americans been to Brazil than, say, Spain?
And the idea that Rio will somehow up the ratings due to the US Latino viewers strikes me as similarly silly. First of all, relatively few US Latinos are from Brazil. Will other US Latinos watch more Olympic coverage from Brazil vs. Tokyo or Madrid? Most US Latinos don't speak Portuguese.
What will be good for ratings is Michael Phelps II (or the equivalent). No way to predict that ahead of time. I don't think any non-US location is better than any other for US TV ratings.
Do any of the Spanish-language channels air Olympic coverage in the US, or do Spanish-speakers have to watch in English?
Rio has some serious crime issues which will not likely be solved by 2016, but will need to be insulated from the Games. They will also need to find more hotel rooms for the influx of visitors and they are considering cruise ship dockings during the Games. The people of Brazil are resourceful and most hospitable. They have seven years and it should be a great Olympic Games.
The Olympics in Rio are good from a ratings POV as the time difference on the East Coast is only an hour so NBC or whoever gets the Olympics can schedule the best events in primetime whereas the 2012 Olympics in London are most likely to be tape delayed like in Beijing because there is no way London will schedule their events in favour of NBC.
In the past one network, gets to air the feeds to all countries. Each country takes the feed and adds their own commentary. What we see in the US is not necessarily what other countries see.
Holly, the NBC owned Telemundo did have some Olympics coverage (I don’t remember what events or how much) and I’m pretty sure there was SAP (secondary audio) in Spanish.
@CK, I was wondering about all the Spanish-speaking people in the United States.
CK, true. I was addressing the US TV ratings, and the HR piece was about US networks/potential ratings.
Aah, I didn’t realize NBCU owned Telemundo.
I tend to go onto off-topic tangents…
The ratings will be spectacular and record-breaking since most of the events can be aired live to the US. Bosses across the country will be frustrated with their employees sneaking TV time to watch.
Whichever network wins the bid, will likly have the marquee events (aka events where the US excels like Track and field and swimming) air the finals during US Primetime.
The speak Portuguese in Brazil – not Spanish.
I think the ratings will do well. It’s South America’s first games, and there will be a lot of pomp and circumstance going on with all of that.
@CK, everyone was worried about Greece and their safety and security and that turned out fine. I don’t think it’ll be any different in Rio.
Corey3rd, “The speak Portuguese in Brazil – not Spanish.” Exactly my point in the post.
Aaron, don’t they all have pomp and circumstance?
And with Athens the concern was less personal safety and security and more the legendary (at least in conventional wisdom) inability of the Greeks to get major projects finished and working on time, and the FUBAR nature of moving around Athens.
And concerning public safety in Rio. While it may be a very real issue, its not a TV ratings issue at all.
Rio hosted the Pan American Games in 2007 successfully. I think that criminals who prey on tourists will be on their best behavior when all eyes are on their country.
Apart from a different language, the Brazilian “latino” is entirely different from all other Latin American latinos. So I don’t think the Latin identity is enough to attract more hispanic viewers inside the US. Viewership here will still depend on how well American athletes do at the Games. Showing a lot of bikini may help.
By the way, the time zone difference between Rio and NY is 3 hours when it’s Summer down there.
“While it may be a very real issue, its not a TV ratings issue at all.”
I’m sure the crime, corruption, and slums will attract media attention, much like China’s censorship, pollution, and dubbed performances. It was my curiosity which had me watch (a little of) the games in Beijing.
A shame it wouldn’t be the States though, I live very close to Chicago.
The people of Brazil speak Portuguese not Spanish.
The time zone closeness would be good for watching events in real time.
perhaps the headline of the story should’ve been “The People of Brazil speak Portuguese not Spanish”. I guess Bill figured just writing it in the actual post would be enough to get that message across. But nope.
Alternatively I think “The People Brazil speak Portuguese, not Spanish and they LOVE Supernatural” would have worked too. I think 50% of the requests we get about Supernatural come from Brazil!
“I’m sure the crime, corruption, and slums will attract media attention…”
Sounds to me much like coverage of Chicago if it got to host the Olympics.
Seriously, I don’t see Rio hurting the ratings for the Olympics. If nothing else, it probably will help. First, it’s in the Americas time zone. Second, it is the first time the Olympics has been held in South America. Third, if you like or hate the place, Rio has some fanastic locations for television.
Jojo, others, perhaps I wasn’t clear in the post above. I don’t think the location (for a non-US location) matters much to US TV ratings , and particularly not for the reasons cited in the THR.com article. Ratings will depend a lot more on whether there is a compelling Michael Phelps like story and if it’s a network other than NBC, what they might do differently than NBC has.
Funny everyone is assuming NBC will broadcast the games…in 2016. Do we even know if NBC will “exist” in 2016? =D
Just kidding…sort of.