Olympics vs. Hard Knocks (Dolphins)

[Doc-phin]

Do you guys think the Olympics will hurt the ratings for the Dolphins on Hard Knocks?

If so, do you think there will be a bunch of reports about how "unpopular" the Dolphins have become and those reports will ignore the timing of the Olympics?

I can see it happening, and it seems like it would be difficult to prove one way or the other how much of an affect there would be.  Based on typical media practices, I could see them trying to draw out the most dramatic angle possible.  In this case, that would mean trashing the teams popularity.

Personally, I think the Dolphins are far more popular than most people think (on a national level).  Around the country, I see an aweful lot of Dolphins fans in proportion to other teams.  Pittsburg and Dallas may be the only two teams I observe to be more popular nationally.

[Phishfan]

They are not even on at the same time. The one night where the Olympics & Hard Knocks are both on TV, there is no Olympic programming during the 10:00 time slot.

[Brian Fein]

That's what DVR's are for.

I don't think there will be any affect.  People who like Hard Knocks will watch it over the 400m butterfly or gymnastics floor routines.  They can watch oodles of Olympics coverage 167 other hours each week.

[Doc-phin]

They are not even on at the same time. The one night where the Olympics & Hard Knocks are both on TV, there is no Olympic programming during the 10:00 time slot.

I recalled having essentially 24 hours of Olympics on my Direct TV service and I didn't pay extra for it.  Could be wrong though. 

[Phishfan]

I looked up the schedule. NBC has tons of channels and coverage but at 10:00 on August 7th the only thing is a soccer game replay on a channel that I'm not sure what it is. Is it labeled as Soccer Specialty which is something I have never heard of.

[Brian Fein]

Think this way...

10 PM Eastern is like 4 AM in London.  What Olympic events are happening at 4 AM?

[Phishfan]

I recalled having essentially 24 hours of Olympics on my Direct TV service and I didn't pay extra for it.  Could be wrong though. 

The last summer games were in China. All the primetime stuff you watchecd were replays so you probably did have almost 24 hour covereage between live events and replays.

[Dave Gray]

I think that On Demand is big for HBO viewers now.  It probably won't matter.

[Brian Fein]

Personally, I'd much rather DVR than watch On Demand.  My preference...

[Doc-phin]

The last summer games were in China. All the primetime stuff you watchecd were replays so you probably did have almost 24 hour covereage between live events and replays.

Just for the record, I realize they were replays and the Olympics aren't 24 hours a day.  But I liked the replay system and how it allowed me to watch the events I particularly wanted to watch.

I was just thinking that non-Dolphins fans that might have watched the show would skip out because they already had their fill of sports for the day.

[MikeO]

HBO is a pay service station. One has nothing to do with the other

[Doc-phin]

HBO is a pay service station. One has nothing to do with the other

If we were talking about pay-per-view I would agree.  But that is not the case and so I absolutely believe that they are related.  Let me try to demonstrate my point.

I already know that many of the people on this board have seen episodes of Hard Knocks.  And since Hard Knocks has never been in Miami, it means that non-fans do watch Hard Knocks.  I realize that many people watched re-runs on NFL Network, but regardless of that you still took the time out of your day to watch another team on Hard Knocks.

Only fans of a team (for the most part) would order HBO just for the purposes of watching Hard Knocks.  There are a lot of people that have HBO all year.  Out of these people, how many of them will skip out on watching Miami's Hard Knocks because they are already pre-occupied with other programing (in this case, the Olympics)?

My feeling is that there are a lot of non-fans that would have watched Miami's Hard Knocks when nothing else was on TV.  And that these people will be watching replays or recordings of the Olympics instead.  Dolphins fans with HBO will obviously watch Hard Knocks this year even with the Olympics eating into their TV time, but others may not make the effort to watch both.

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So far, the sentiment on this board is that there will not be an affect on the ratings for Miami's Hard Knocks.  I disagree but can absolutely accept the viewpoints given here and hope you are right because I hate to see something reflect badly on the team when it is actually a matter of coincidental timing.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Most people have 100+ channels.  Olympics will vie for people's TV watching as will CSI.  I doubt there considerably less viewers Olympics week than the other eposoides.

However, I don't expect this season to break any viewership records.  For the average non-Dolphin fan there really isn't anything special to get excited about. 

If it was Denver everyone would be interested in how Peyton is doing.

If it was NO everyone would be following the post-bounygate saga.

If it was Indy or Wash everyone would be interested in Luck/RG3

If it was Jets, Tebow would get a huge draw and love him or hate him Rex Ryan is the most entertaining coach in the NFL. 

Outside of OchoCinco Chad Johnson, there really isn't anything all that exciting about the Dolphins for non-Dolphin fans. 

So you will get Dolphin fans and NFL fans that watch it every year.  But it won't have the draw that some teams would provide. 

[Doc-phin]

Most people have 100+ channels.  Olympics will vie for people's TV watching as will CSI.  I doubt there considerably less viewers Olympics week than the other eposoides.

I agree with most of what you said. 

But you don't think that "sports fans" will be impacted?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

  But you don't think that "sports fans" will be impacted?

Not really.  I know very few people who are fans of every sport.  I am not going to skip Hard Knocks to watch the shotput compitition.  My mom has zero interest in the NFL so she will be skipping the show but not because she was tied out from watching sycronized swimming. 

IF hard knocks was on at the same time as the US Mens basketball team that would have an impact, but the China vs. Korea badment match isn't going to affect ratings.