[UPDATE: OK - the most recent update to the iPad app seems to make the application functional again. Thank you NBC. The ads are also somehow less annoying and seem less frequent (although it might just be that the app is not crashing over and over again....). Anyway, thanks!]
I'm a huge Olympic fan! I wish that they had ski racing, bobsled, luge, ski jumping, biathlon, etc. all year long on TV. I'd watch it - I would seriously tune in to the international circuit for any of those sports all year. It's exciting and the amazing athletes that dedicate their lives to those sports deserve some recognition and appreciation.
Now I realize that I could dig-around and try to find the coverage of any of the individual sports online and could probably actually watch them if I put the work in, but I don't really have the time to spend to do all the research and looking around and calendar managing that I'd need to do if I wanted to keep up with them individually. So, what I'm saying here is that the TV 'sports' stations should possibly branch out and not just cover football, baseball, basketball, and hockey (and sometimes soccer... if they have to...) they might find a willing audience out there. I can't be the only person that would watch this - the Winter Olympics wouldn't be the huge thing that it is if no one cared...
Initially, I was really encouraged with NBC's making almost all of the events something that you could watch online or through their mobile applications. I get that figure skating is a huge TV draw but, frankly, it's just not my thing (fantastic athletes and amazing talent and dedication - it's just that I'd rather watch biathlon you know?). I used the application on my iPad during the last summer Olympics and it worked great - all the events were available and I could watch all the coverage of everything. All good, very few issues...
However, for this winter olympics NBC somehow f'd the whole thing up.... The app is wicked crashy and the only reliable video available are the advertisements. And speaking of the ads - how many do you think you can force down a viewer's throat before we just give up and watch another re-run of Big Bang Theory. I'm sorry - I spent over an hour last night trying to watch video on my iPad through the NBC application and I'm reasonably sure that I spent roughly 15 minutes watching ski racing, 20-25 minutes watching the stupid ads that you have to watch everytime you switch events your watching, and the rest of the time re-starting the app post-crash. What the hell is that!? Also - as you have ads in the upper right-hand corner and across the entire bottom 5th of the screen, why the hell do you feel the need to subject us to another 4 minutes of ads before you start ANY video (even if it's the same video that I'm reloading for the 12th time post-crash...)?
NBC - I really appreciate the concept of watching every event and think it's a good idea, but if it's unwatchable....
At this point, I'm pissed and unhappy and you blew it... Please fix your application and the availability of video...
About Alex Crittenden
I'm an Enterprise Account Executive with roughly 2 decades of experience working with growing organizations. My focus and experience is on driving sales, building strategic messaging and market positioning, and helping companies to grow. This is a personal blog and does not represent the opinions or feelings of any company that I currently work for or with.