NBC’s coverage of London Olympics exceeds expectations

With the Olympic flame going out Sunday, it won’t be long before NBC turns its attention to the 2014 Winter Games.

There’s no such thing as an extended break when you have $4.38 billion invested for the rights to the next four Olympics.

NBC will prepare for its trek to Sochi, Russia, in 2014 buoyed by ratings and financial success that far exceeded expectations for London. The 17-day extravaganza shows its Olympic franchise is stronger than ever.

Yet it wasn’t a completely smooth run for the network. Going forward, NBC will have to address tough questions.

The issue of tape delay figures to be a heated topic again, as Sochi is 11 hours ahead of Los Angeles. Can NBC endure another Olympics ignoring demands for live TV coverage of marquee events?

The network also has to solve glitches that hampered live streaming of events at NBCOlympics.com. Too often, the picture froze at crucial times on various digital devices.

Ultimately, NBC still needs to overcome the perception issues. Despite the high ratings, there was significant criticism over NBC’s overall package. #NBCFail developed a strong following on Twitter.

Mark Lazarus, working his first Olympics as NBC Sports chairman, acknowledged the network has heard the reaction that lighted up social media throughout the Games.

“Some of it is fair and we are listening,” Lazarus said.

Yet Lazarus thinks the critics were “a vocal minority” compared with “a silent majority” of viewers who enjoyed NBC’s coverage. The claim would seem to be supported by a poll conducted last week by the Pew Research Center for the People and Press. It said 76% of the 1,005 respondents described the coverage as either excellent or good.

For NBC and Lazarus, though, the ultimate validation came in the ratings. NBC expected viewership for 2012 to be down by as much as 20% from the 2008 Games in Beijing, which had marquee events live in prime time in the U.S. Yet despite only taped coverage in prime time this year, NBC averaged 31.5 million viewers per night through Saturday, up 12% from Beijing.

NBC also did strong ratings during the day and on its other platforms, including the NBC Sports Network. All told, an estimated 212.7 million Americans tuned into its coverage through Friday, putting the London Olympics on pace to top Beijing as the most-watched event in U.S. television history.

“The ratings have been very gratifying,” Lazarus said. “We exceeded everyone’s expectations, including our own.”

Instead of a projected $200-million loss, the network thinks it will break even on this year’s Games. With the rights for the next four Olympics relatively flat, NBC has reason to feel good about its big investment.

“The NBC brand is strengthened by the Olympics, and the Olympics are strengthened by NBC,” Lazarus said.

Yet NBC came up short in some people’s eyes, especially over the live issue. The network drew considerable ire for not airing high-profile races featuring Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt live during consecutive Sunday afternoon telecasts. Instead, NBC waited nearly six hours to show those events during prime time.

Lazarus is quick to point out that NBC aired more than 30 hours of live coverage daily on its platforms and that every sport was available live on NBCOlympics.com. However, he did acknowledge the network will reexamine its stance for 2014.

“We evaluate our business models all the time, and seek the best ways to satisfy the majority of viewers, as well as advertisers, and our affiliate stations,” Lazarus said. “We have to wait for the data from these Games to come in, and then we’ll make our plans accordingly.”

Lazarus also will evaluate the performance of NBCOlympics.com. The site generated more than 1 billion page views. However, the network took heat for technical problems that arose because of the unprecedented amount of live coverage.

“You can’t simulate the Olympic Games,” Lazarus said. “After the first weekend, in relative terms, we had very few issues. The evidence is in the length and amount of live streaming as the Games went on — the numbers are staggering.”

Indeed, these Olympics marked a transition of sorts. The impact of the digital component, including social media giving a wider voice for critics and watching a 100-meter race on a cellphone, was significant. Lazarus expects the evolution of new technologies to ramp up even more going into 2014 and beyond.

“We’re going to continue to innovate,” Lazarus said. “What we’re doing today is leaps and bounds ahead of the way the Olympics were handled in Beijing. We’ve got the Olympic Games through 2020, and the one thing we know for sure is that the media landscape’s going to change.”

sports@latimes.com