Millennials watched online, but how does NBC make money on it? $CMCSA
NBC is obviously scrambling to someone justify the 30% drop in viewership of this year’s games versus the London games just 4 years ago. 3.4 billion minutes of streaming is certainly impressive — and expected, to say the least considering the elements of the Connected Society thematic — but how much revenue did those minutes generate?
The struggle internet companies have dealt with since the bubble — how to monetize eyeballs — is the same reality for networks trying to generate enough revenue to cover the enormous rights fees being paid for the Olympics and major sports leagues. For our money, the power of the streaming experience is two-fold: individualized experience (meaning they know which set of eyeballs is watching the video) and location-based targeting (they can tell pretty closely where you are while watching).
According to NBCU, nearly 50 million viewers streamed 3.4 billion minutes across the web and on mobile and connected devices, with more than half of streamers under the age of 35. That compares with almost 200 million viewers in aggregate who watched the Games across NBCU’s TV networks during the 17 days of coverage.
Source: NBC Argues Millennials Did Watch the Olympics—Just Not All on Traditional TV – WSJ
