奧運會是一大商機 誰是贏家輸家(4)

The eyes are the prize

眼球即獎賞

Pierre de Coubertin, the idealistic Frenchman who founded the modern Olympics in 1896, did not approve of betting. Heaven knows what he would have made of the bets that broadcasters make on the games. For 2009-12, they have stumped up $3.91 billion for television rights, up from $2.57 billion for 2005-08.

理想主義法國人 Pierre de Coubertin 於1896年開創現代奧運會先河，他並不贊成奧運賭博行爲。天知道他用電視臺的奧運賭博盈利所得做了些什麼。在2009至2012年間，各電視臺付了39.1億美元購買電視轉播權，相比2005至2008年間的25.7億美元有所上升。

Such huge fees make bidding for the rings highly risky. NBC Universal, an American TV company, lost $223m broadcasting the Vancouver winter Olympics, and expects to lose money in London, too. Having paid $1.18 billion for the right to broadcast the London Olympics in America it has so far booked only $950m in advertising. It will sell more ads at the last moment. But it will also spend a fortune on cameras, servers and breathless commentary, leaving it $100m-200m in the red, by one estimate.

如此高額的費用讓奧運投標行爲極具風險。一家美國電視公司 NBC Universal 在轉播溫哥華冬奧會時損失了2.23億美元，預計在倫敦奧運會也將入不敷出。該公司爲倫敦奧運會在美國的轉播權支付了11.8億美元，但迄今爲止在廣告方面僅僅入賬9.5億美元。在閉幕之際該公司將出售更多廣告機會，但它也將投入大筆資金進行攝製、架設服務器並進行馬不停蹄的報導評論。有人估計該公司將面臨一億到兩億美元的財政赤字。

Comcast, the cable firm that owns NBC, is confident that the bet will eventually pay off. NBC will pay $4.38 billion to broadcast the games from 2014 to 2020. NBC hopes the Olympics will boost adverts on its free channels, hook more subscribers for NBC Sports (a pay channel) and popularise its digital offerings.

NBC 的母公司——有線系統公司康卡斯特（Comcast）堅信這塊資金空缺終將被填滿。在2014至2020年間，NBC 將花費43.8億美元來轉播奧運賽事。NBC 希望奧運會能帶動其免費頻道上的廣告，爲收費頻道 NBC Sports 吸引更多訂閱用戶並推廣其數字業務。

NBC wants the Olympics to help it take on Disney's ESPN, the giant of American sports broadcasting. This will be hard. The games are usually in an un-American time zone, and involve dozens of sports, many of which make Americans shrug. It is hard for broadcast highlights on a network to make the most of it all. Technology may be coming to NBC's aid. It plans to offer 3,500 hours of live coverage via 40 online streams, allowing people to watch on their computers and mobile phones while waiting for the bus or pretending to work. When people are desperate for distraction even dressage has its place.

NBC 想要借奧運來對抗美國運動廣播業巨頭——迪斯尼（Disney）的 ESPN。這並非易事。奧運會往往在非美國時區舉辦；而且包含幾十種運動，美國人對其中很多種都只能望洋興嘆。很難通過網絡上轉播的精彩片段來對奧運會進行全面展現。技術或許能幫得上忙。NBC 計劃通過40種在線流媒體來提供3500小時的直播覆蓋，允許人們在等公交車或是上班時間開小差的時候通過電腦或手機觀看。當人們急需娛樂消遣時，即使是花式騎術比賽都有會觀衆去看。

Some worry that digital streaming will hurt the prime-time broadcasts that command the highest advertising rates. After all, who will bother to watch a race when the result is already online? But Michael Payne, a former Olympic official and the author of "Olympic Turnaround", a book about the games' commercial revival, downplays such concerns. He thinks that all those digital offerings will create buzz. "With 26 sports, there's enough news to keep people interested. They'll watch the games on multiple platforms and then go into the office and talk about it," he predicts. He may be right. Olympic organisers once fretted that the first radio broadcasts would depress ticket sales. They didn't.

有人擔憂數字流媒體將使帶來最高廣告費用的黃金時段轉播深受其害。畢竟，當比賽結果已經在網絡上線後，誰還會花時間去看比賽過程呢？但奧運會商業復興之書《奧運轉機》的作者、前奧運會官員 Michael Payne 對這種擔憂不以爲然。他認爲所有的數字業務都將爲人們帶來樂趣。他預測道："26項運動中總有足夠的新聞能讓人們感興趣。他們將在多種平臺上觀看比賽，並在辦公室裏對此評頭論足。"他的話可能有道理。奧運會組織者曾擔憂首輪電臺廣播將使門票銷量不景氣，但事實並非如此。