NBC’s “The Office” delivered a 5.1-its highest ratings ever-last Thursday among adults 18 to 49, a bump the network credits in large part to the show’s popularity as an iPod download.
In fact, the series is NBC’s top-performing video podcast available on Apple’s iTunes, where it has been available since Dec. 6.
Such a connection between podcast success and broadcast ratings success is particularly significant because the NBC data is among the first available evidence of what network executives have been gambling on when striking their new media deals-that the new video platforms are additive because they provide more entry points into a show for consumers.
Frankly, this never occurred to me. I wonder if Apple figured it out in advance and used it as a selling point to NBC honchos — or vice-versa?
My wife has the only iPod in the family and she uses it for audiobooks. So, we don’t contribute to these numbers. Although I welcome the expansion of convergence [Is this sentence grammatically logical?].
Has anyone seen the UK version of the Office?
In my opinion it is much better than the US one, Ricky Gervais is an absolute genius and plays it exactly right.
Then again, maybe I prefer our one, because I have seen and loved it before seeing the US version. (I have prefered US versions of shows over our UK versions in the past, so I am not being Biased due to my nationality or anything as shallow as that)
It could also be that the humour of the average UK audience is different to that of the US audience. I don’t know, are there any US fans that prefer the origional? or UK folks that love the US version? Or do we all just prefer what is “our own”?
Graeme — I agree. The US version lacks the courage to offer up the sharp-edged qualities of the UK version. And, it ain’t surprising news to learn that Ricky Gervais’ shiny new podcast series has already hit 2 million downloads.
You don’t need an ipod to watch it. I bet most of the downlads are viewed on the desktop.
The downloaded iPod videos don’t have commercials!
Ratings ar e tallied to sell advertising, but there aren’t any ads on the
iPod. How stupid does NBC think advertisers are?
The UK version of The Office was too cringe inducing for me. The long awkward pauses were just too long. The US version has a nice balance between the manager’s ineptitude and the antics of the other workers.
Ack. OK, nevermind. I thought the downloads were being incorporated into the ratings.
Am I alone in not liking either version of The Office?
That said, not surprising news, look at what happened to Battlestar Galactica.
Eideard, the number of people qualified to judge the grammatical correctness of your sentence is a very small number (I’m not one of them), but it sounds ok to me, but then again I judge these things on whether or not they communicate the thought.
This whole I-Pod thing worries me; will air line pilots, surgeons and boomer skippers start wearing these things at work?
We do, no doubt, live in interesting times…