On Thu, Jul 7, 2016 at 9:30 AM, Bob Jersey <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Global Language Monitor, a trend-analyzer, found that largely thanks to > concerns about Zika, it's only at about 1 % the level of London in 2012. > > Media Life > <http://www.medialifemagazine.com/coming-alarmingly-buzz-less-olympics/> > (link) > Global Language Monitor did not find that the drop in online interest in the upcoming Olympics is due to Zika. They only announced the drop and when asked for a cause a spokesperson guessed Zika because that's in the news and responds to their metrics. Unless cable news outlets have convinced people that they can get Zika through their TV sets or by writing about the Olympics, that makes no sense as a cause. I have two possible explanations for the drop in interest. First possibility, the GLM metrics are out of date. One thing I noticed they count are blogs and the number of blogs out there is shrinking. So if GLM is counting blogs but not tweets or Facebook posts they could get a very inaccurate number. In other words, if they treat the networked communication world of 2016 exactly like the world of 2012 the 2016 numbers may not reflect anything real. The second possibility is something I wish I could verify: the Olympics have jumped the shark. Once it was a small sporting festival where athletes could get together and compete. Now it is a monster that costs cities and countries more than they can afford and the level of corporate sponsorship has sucked out all the fun. Then the residents of host cities try to squeeze as much money as they can from visitors and tickets to finals or marquee events are either unavailable or out of reach of the 99%. But the core reason the Olympics have jumped the shark is that sports leagues have done such a good job of holding fans' attention throughout the year. No matter what sport you follow, whether it's the NFL, NASCAR, the English Premier League, whatever, there is enough content out there to keep your mind from wandering and seeking out opportunities to watch unfamiliar sports. Outside of a pre-Olympic window people just don't watch swimming, diving, wrestling, or track and field. So now when the games are in sight NBC is trying to pretend that we will suddenly start caring and learning names. And people who do care about these niche sports can keep up online and don't need NBC to tell them what's what. -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
