{"id":78532,"date":"2016-08-16T11:41:41","date_gmt":"2016-08-16T11:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=78532"},"modified":"2023-04-14T18:52:57","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T18:52:57","slug":"behind-mic-olympian-price-tag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Mic: Olympian Price Tag"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Olympics <\/a>in Rio are up and running.\u00a0 Despite all of the warnings about crime and the Zika virus, there has been very little bad news to come out of the Games.\u00a0 As I write this, the United States is doing very well (men\u2019s gymnastics aside) and, as is often the case, television viewership ratings rise as the Games proceed.\u00a0 NBC and their family of cable channels do a marvelous job of covering what must be a monumental challenge.\u00a0 Being a very small part of the business of television, I find it mind-boggling to think of what goes into producing and televising the Olympics.\u00a0 Between the set-up for all the venues and the personnel necessary to man the events, the organization and the price tag must seem like running a small country.<\/p>\n

According to Forbes, the cost just to acquire the rights to televise from the IOC is just over $1 billion.\u00a0 NBC recently just extended their contract for 6 Olympics through 2032 at a cost of $7.75 billion.\u00a0 This does not include the cost of ACTUALLY producing the event.\u00a0 That price tag is estimated at a little over $1 million per year.\u00a0 So can it possibly be worth it?<\/p>\n

The audience size (21 million plus per night) approaches NBC\u2019s Sunday Night Football, the network\u2019s most watched program.\u00a0 More women watch the Olympics than men and the audience is made up of viewers with higher than average incomes. This is an advertiser\u2019s dream.\u00a0 Couple that with the fact that the other networks tend not to challenge the Olympic broadcasts.\u00a0 Reruns are the norm, with even LIVE shows taking a couple of weeks off.<\/p>\n

NBC has announced that they broke revenue records this year with over $1 billion of advertising sales.\u00a0 The audience profile and the ability to televise most events LIVE because of the one-hour time zone difference made this year a very attractive product.\u00a0 And it never hurts that advertising during the Olympics looks like a very patriotic thing to do.<\/p>\n

Ironically, the largest advertiser is NBC itself. The Olympics is the perfect way to promote their programming and their other cable channels.\u00a0 In addition, the Olympics draw a huge audience on digital devices, which is the future of broadcasting.\u00a0 Getting more and more eyes on mobile devices, social sites, and online cannot be a bad thing.<\/p>\n

So, with an expense budget of a small country, does NBC make or lose money on the Olympics?\u00a0 It appears they come very close to breaking even financially, but they certainly are winners when you account for all of the positive intangibles they acquire.<\/p>\n

Everyone from upper management, to the talent, to the various crews that man the events, can take pride in knowing that \u201cgoing for the gold\u201d has pretty much been accomplished.<\/p>\n

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. For some reason, I did not think I would get into the Olympics like years past. I was wrong.\u00a0 As soon as I am going around the dial, I find I stop on them and get caught up in all the interesting stories and the events themselves.<\/li>\n
  2. Rio should be very upset with the media for keeping people away with all of their foreboding of crime and Zika. Now reporters are saying the Olympic area is like any other big city \u2013 know where and where not to go and you will be fine andit seems, so far, mosquitoes took the two weeks off.<\/li>\n
  3. Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees will play his final game on Friday, August 12. He will not play next year and still make $28 million. He signed for 10 years in 2007 for $275 million. If you are looking to retire, try to get his \u201cexit plan\u201d.<\/li>\n
  4. If you are a \u201cSeinfeld\u201d fan and you are looking for a good summer read, check out Seinfeldia: how a show about nothing changed everything by Jennifer Armstrong. It is an interesting read about all the inner workings of the show and the characters.<\/li>\n
  5. High school football begins the RCN season on Friday, August 26, with Central Catholic at Freedom. LIVE at 7:00.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Olympics in Rio are up and running.\u00a0 Despite all of the warnings about crime and the Zika virus, there has been very little bad news to come out of the Games.\u00a0 As I write this, the United States is doing very well (men\u2019s gymnastics aside) and, as is often the case, television viewership ratings…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-mic","category-featured","category-sports"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBehind the Mic: Olympian Price Tag - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Behind the Mic: Olympian Price Tag - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Olympics in Rio are up and running.\u00a0 Despite all of the warnings about crime and the Zika virus, there has been very little bad news to come out of the Games.\u00a0 As I write this, the United States is doing very well (men\u2019s gymnastics aside) and, as is often the case, television viewership ratings...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-16T11:41:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-14T18:52:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gary Laubach\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gary Laubach\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gary Laubach\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/149d57a8e347f18c57a13b75a3c0f3ee\"},\"headline\":\"Behind the Mic: Olympian Price Tag\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-16T11:41:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-14T18:52:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":676,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Behind the Mic\",\"Featured\",\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\\\/\",\"name\":\"Behind the Mic: Olympian Price Tag - ATVN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-16T11:41:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-14T18:52:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/149d57a8e347f18c57a13b75a3c0f3ee\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/\",\"name\":\"ATVN\",\"description\":\"Local Programming & Astound Digital Cable, Internet & Phone Services\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/149d57a8e347f18c57a13b75a3c0f3ee\",\"name\":\"Gary Laubach\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Gary-Laubach-Behind-the-Mic-Author-Image.jpg\",\"url\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Gary-Laubach-Behind-the-Mic-Author-Image.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Gary-Laubach-Behind-the-Mic-Author-Image.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Gary Laubach\"},\"description\":\"Gary began his broadcasting career with Twin County in 1972. Twin County eventually became C-TEC and then Astound Broadband. Gary is currently a Sports Broadcaster for Lafayette College.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/author\\\/rcntvgary\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Behind the Mic: Olympian Price Tag - ATVN","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Behind the Mic: Olympian Price Tag - ATVN","og_description":"The Olympics in Rio are up and running.\u00a0 Despite all of the warnings about crime and the Zika virus, there has been very little bad news to come out of the Games.\u00a0 As I write this, the United States is doing very well (men\u2019s gymnastics aside) and, as is often the case, television viewership ratings...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\/","og_site_name":"ATVN","article_published_time":"2016-08-16T11:41:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-14T18:52:57+00:00","author":"Gary Laubach","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gary Laubach","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\/"},"author":{"name":"Gary Laubach","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/149d57a8e347f18c57a13b75a3c0f3ee"},"headline":"Behind the Mic: Olympian Price Tag","datePublished":"2016-08-16T11:41:41+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-14T18:52:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\/"},"wordCount":676,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Behind the Mic","Featured","Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\/","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\/","name":"Behind the Mic: Olympian Price Tag - ATVN","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-08-16T11:41:41+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-14T18:52:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/149d57a8e347f18c57a13b75a3c0f3ee"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-olympian-price-tag\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/","name":"ATVN","description":"Local Programming & Astound Digital Cable, Internet & Phone Services","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/149d57a8e347f18c57a13b75a3c0f3ee","name":"Gary Laubach","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"\/atvn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Gary-Laubach-Behind-the-Mic-Author-Image.jpg","url":"\/atvn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Gary-Laubach-Behind-the-Mic-Author-Image.jpg","contentUrl":"\/atvn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Gary-Laubach-Behind-the-Mic-Author-Image.jpg","caption":"Gary Laubach"},"description":"Gary began his broadcasting career with Twin County in 1972. Twin County eventually became C-TEC and then Astound Broadband. Gary is currently a Sports Broadcaster for Lafayette College.","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/author\/rcntvgary\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78533,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78532\/revisions\/78533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}