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Morning News

Advertising Executive and 'TV Guide' Senior Editor Discuss Lagging Olympic Ratings

Aired September 20, 2000 - 11:07 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN. CNN ANCHOR: Now we can talk about some real games, the Olympic games, and how many people are watching, apparently not as many as perhaps NBC was expecting.

To talk about the ratings of the Olympics and why people are watching or not watching, we are joined by advertising executive Mark DiMassimo in New York.

Mark, good to see you.

MARK DIMASSIMO, DIMASSIMO BRAND ADVERTISING: Good to see you.

KAGAN: Let's look at some of these numbers, 17 percent fewer people than expected are watching the Olympics on NBC, and 10 percent fewer than the promise that NBC made to advertisers. In terms of millions of dollars, is this going to a problem for NBC?

DIMASSIMO: Well, I think it is certainly not a good thing. It's too soon to tell exactly how it will all work out. But they have missed their guarantees. What NBC does is they guarantee a minimum rating. If they don't make that minimum rating, then what they are going to have to do is do make-goods, which means give additional spots that they, as a result, cannot sell. So there is money to be lost there.

KAGAN: Let's look at some of the challenges that NBC has faced, things like time difference, people being able to get the information on the Internet. Do you think that that's hurt hem?

DIMASSIMO: Well, you know, with all due respect to the History Channel, history is not the biggest ratings pull on television, and anything that happens 15 hours ago in this day and age is history.

But I think there's more than that. You look back to 12 years ago, in Barcelona, the Olympic games were 12 hours behind and they did very well, incredibly well, So I think a lot more must have changed between 1988 and now.

The rise of cable TV is one, this is an example of it. And the Internet certainly is a very important factor. People know all they need to know by the time the evening program gets on.

KAGAN: What about the timing of this? These are the summer games and yet for most people it already feels like fall. And usually, when you watch the Summer Olympics, it is at a time when there is not a lot going on. Now people are back to work, kids are back to school, and lives are busier?

DIMASSIMO: Rich, everybody wants to talk about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. Down in Australia, the seasons are a little askew, and therefore they have had to make the Olympic games a little bit late. It's competing with "Monday Night Football" and it is not winning.

But, then again, in the past, the Olympics were able to compete very well with "Monday Night Football." So gain, I think there is a change there.

KAGAN: Mark, we will have you stand by. I want to bring in Rich Sands. He is a senior associate editor for "TV Guide" to actually talk about the product.

Rich, there has been some criticism of what NBC has actually put on the air, that it's not compelling because it's too preproduced and too slick.

RICH SANDS, SR. ASSOC. EDITOR, "TV GUIDE": That's definitely the case in some of the programming. Over the weekend, they showed the triathalon, which happened at least 15 or 18 hours before they aired it, and it was produced like a movie with very syrupy narration by Al Trautwig and then Harry Smith. And it just came across as too polished and too -- it wasn't the Olympics, it wasn't live, but it was -- didn't even seem like they made an attempt to make it look live. It wasn't a sporting event, it was too much entertainment.

On the other hand, the swimming has been great, they've really -- given the time difference, they're doing the best they can. And the rivalry between the United States and Australia has been a big story for NBC.

And gymnastics as well. Disappointing performances for the United States, but perhaps they were over-hyped anyway. And they're doing their best to draw it out throughout the entire evening.

KAGAN: You mentioned big story. Really, though, I mean, certain amount of this is really luck, and there really has been no big story for NBC to cover, at least in terms of an American perspective?

SMITH: That's the case. Some of these swimmers that are winning gold medals for the United States, they're not breaking out. There is just not a breakout athlete yet.

KAGAN: The big breakout athlete has been Ian Thorpe, who is an Australian?

SMITH: Right, and that's a great story. But I think Americans really want an American, and especially since there's been no gymnast, which we are used to having, young girl, a Mary Lou Retton, breakout character. But let's keep in mind that Marion Jones hasn't even competed yet. Friday is her first day of competition, and she may be the spark that NBS has been looking for.

KAGAN: Track and field, Marion Jones has made a very bold prediction. She says she is there to win five gold medals. If she can do that, do you think that that saves the games for NBC?

SMITH: Absolutely. And NBC gets lucky because her competition runs all through the second week and it builds and builds. And it doesn't get more difficult for her until the end of the Games. So she should win the 100 very easily this Saturday. And then it continues, the drama plays out as she moves into her other events, her more problematic events, like the long jump and the relays, aren't until next weekend. I'm sure they will draw it out like a soap opera.

KAGAN: Mark, you mentioned that it is still young in the games here. If you are an advertiser who has spent millions on this, what are you watching for as the games go on?

DIMASSIMO: There are two sides to it: Advertisers are pulling, but I do think it's a little soon to know how it's going to go. Towards the end of the week, we are going to start see the track and field events, events in which we traditionally do well and expect to do well this year. That ought to pull things up.

I'd be looking for the buying opportunities, actually. When they started -- when NBC started to sell the games, you needed $7 million minimum to get in. Now, anybody -- almost anybody can get in. So it may be a buying opportunity.

KAGAN: Mark DiMassimo, Rich Sand, thanks for joining us, gentlemen.

DIMASSIMO: Thank you.

SMITH: Thank you.

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