This year's summer Olympics are the first to occur in the age of social media, and given that the United States' viewing audience is several hours behind Greenwich Mean Time, the inevitable tape delay question arises.
Of course this is not the first time the Olympics have been shown on delay in the U.S., not even the first time in the era of new technology. The games in Seoul and Barcelona were before the rise of the Web, but cable news was already redefining the news cycle to be 24 hours, instead of the controlled broadcast and print schedules. By the Sydney Olympics in 2000, NBC had to deal with an extreme time lag and the early use of the Internet spreading news and information outside of the media's control. This only increased with the Athens and Beijing games as technology improved (mobile, streaming video) and the culture became more expectant of real-time information.
There may be some irony that part of London's opening ceremony celebrated the rise of this culture, yet this may be a threat to the current economics of the Olympics that are still based on the old business model of mass advertising to a captive and controlled audience via licensing to broadcast channels. There has been much discussion as to whether that is a still a valid business model (ratings are still high...) or whether NBC is decreasing value instead of adding it, or if the entire ordeal is just too commercial. But let's ignore those arguments for the moment and assume that there is a business model that will work for NBC and the IOC that supports a real-time product instead of the traditional prime-time package. Do I actually want that as a consumer?
I fully support the news industry reinventing itself along with technology to provide a more real-time product with better use of technology, even if it means painfully blowing up some business models (or watching new market entrants disintermediate some traditional leaders.) And I am excited by the potential of television and movie entertainment moving to an on-demand experience. But what are the Olympics? And other sports for that matter?
I believe they are primarily an entertainment product, but with elements of news baked in. Sports, especially on this scale, are a spectacle. They are events packaged as products. In theory, if the drama is good enough I would enjoy watching them on demand, separated from the live timing. This sometimes works. I have been recording football games for years and watching them at a later time when I am unavailable to watch as they originally air. There is a tiny loss in the experience, as part of the spectacle of sports is sharing the event, even if remotely, with other people simultaneously. So tape delay can work. It is a bigger loss, though, if I already know the outcome. I never watch the entire recorded football game if I hear the final score in advance. So tape delay with leaked results is a much reduced experience.
So what should NBC or others do with something like the Olympics? While they could simply broadcast every event live and optimize distribution and audience through the latest technology, I'm not sure this would be an improvement. Because most people still have inflexible schedules even in a real-time culture, the full entertainment experience could not be consumed as it happens. It would be treated more like news than an entertainment product to be enjoyed. There is still a lot of value packaging the spectacle.
In this case, I do not see an obvious way to package and present the Olympics with our current culture and technology possibilities and limitations. The current mix of breaking news throughout the day, optional real-time broadcasting of events, on demand replays, and a nightly packaged product is probably the natural equilibrium. Although it requires individuals to decide how they want to consume the product and personally navigate some of the conflicts. (In other words, try to avoid seeing results during the day in order to preserve the nightly experience, or to find time to watch more events live during the day.)
Despite the challenging puzzle, the Olympics are fantastic content. There will surely be incredible innovation around packaging and distributing that content, and other sports, in future years. I am excited to see how the next games held in a distant timezone are presented and consumed. It's sure to be in even more dramatic fashion.
