NEW YORK (AP) — NBC researchers are finding that people who know Olympic results before the network’s tape-delayed telecast are more likely to watch it.
The preliminary research undercuts an assumption that has guided production of Olympic broadcasts from locales outside of U.S. time zones for decades. NBC has been criticized for not televising live some of the London Games’ marquee events like swimming and gymnastics so they can be aired in prime time.
NBC chief researcher Alan Wurtzel says that two-thirds of people who said they knew the results ahead of NBC’s tape-delayed telecast said they would watch the events anyway. People who watched the events earlier in the day via computer stream watched the tape-delayed broadcast for a longer time than those who hadn’t.
