NBC bets billions on Olympics

After dozing off to images of flying Eros, an overdressed Bjork and Olympic rings burning in water, television viewers awoke Saturday to the U.S. women’s basketball team easily beating New Zealand.

So began NBC’s omnipresent Olympics.

With a staggering 39 hours of coverage spread across six networks on Saturday alone — not including Lester Holt interviewing athletes on weekend “Today” — the Olympic burnout factor is being tested right away.

NBC has bet billions of dollars that Americans will get hooked on the Athens Games.

Friday’s opening ceremony averaged 25.1 million viewers, down from the 27.3 million who watched opening night in Sydney four years ago, according to Nielsen Media Research. The 56 million who tuned in to at least part of the ceremony was the same figure as in 2000.

Network viewership in general has dropped over the past four years.

“With the average American television household having 25 more channels to choose from than it did four years ago, it feels great to be right on the viewership levels of Sydney’s opening ceremony,” said Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports & Olympics.

He called it a “nice beginning, especially with the great American swimming and gymnastics teams performing over the next 10 days.”

The key to big ratings is to create big stars, which NBC is trying with swimmer Michael Phelps, successful in the first step of his quest to top Mark Spitz’s haul of gold. That didn’t happen in Sydney, where for the first time ever ratings never topped what they reached for the opening ceremony.

One other potential star is blonde pinup pitcher Jennie Finch, which CNBC rushed to interview after the U.S. softball team’s opening rout of Italy.

“Congratulations again,” gushed analyst and former softball star Dot Richardson. “We look forward to seeing you again on the mound.”

The opening ceremony was the type of spectacle Hollywood used to create for the big screen, where “excess” was a word never spoken. It had plenty of arresting images, some as simple as fireworks exploding over a brand new stadium, others as obtuse as a midair dancer on a tumbling cube.

NBC’s Bob Costas and Katie Couric served as translators, and not for language. The sprawling tribute to Greek history and mythology would have flown over the head of most viewers — just like Eros, the god of love — if the commentators hadn’t explained what it all signified.

The two were able and amiable pros. Some of Costas’ quips seemed forced (“When you are a Greek god, you can do as you please”), but they hit the right combination of letting the show unfold on its own while inserting cogent commentary.

During the parade of nations, there was some anticipation of what type of reaction the American athletes would receive, given the unpopularity of the Iraq war in Europe.

Costas noted the “tremendous roar of approval” almost with relief.

“It’s a very warm and generous reception for every country, across the spectrum of politics and humanity,” he said. “They have all been welcomed here.”

One of NBC’s best ideas was a very simple graphic during the parade of nations, listing the three countries “on deck” while athletes were marching in. Viewers could anticipate their favorites.

With 202 countries, NBC researchers had to dig deep. Denmark, Costas noted, was very competitive in badminton.

Most effective was Costas’ opening, shifting from an overhead view of the Parthenon to one of the new stadium.