The Olympic Sport of Edgecrafting

I am not planning on watching much of the Athens Olympics televised by NBC.

Why not? Well, NBC’s coverage of the major sports and Olympic events like Gymnastics, Swimming, Basketball, and the Opening/Closing ceremonies is too sanitized, too slick, too expected, and too commoditized (i.e. lowest common denominator) for me.

However, I do plan to watch the “edgecraft” sports being televised on Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC, and USA cable channels.

Televising uncommon but common sports like Badminton, Table Tennis, Field Hockey, Water Polo, and Archery is classic Seth Godin Edgecrafting.

SETH GODIN EDGECRAFTING REFRESHER COURSE
As detailed in Free Prize Inside, Edgecrafting is about going to the “edges” to find innovation. On the outer edges, one finds the out-of-the-ordinary which can be deemed extreme, offbeat, captivating, and downright remarkable. These remarkable goings-on may be far from being mainstream, but they are definitely worthy of talking about. And discovering talk value is where edgecrafting crafts Free Prizes.

So, if you are into edgecraft Olympic sports then read The Brand Autopsy Viewer’s Guide to Televised Edgecraft Olympic Sports [as lifted directly from a New York Times article].

The Brand Autopsy Viewer’s Guide to Televised Edgecraft Olympic Sports

CNBC will be part boxing Mecca and part multisport workhorse. On weekdays, its financial coverage will continue until ''Closing Bell'' ends at 5 p.m., then boxing will be broadcast until 8 p.m. On weekends, CNBC will carry an array of sports from 2 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern (9 a.m. to 11 p.m. in Athens). On the second Sunday, for instance, it will have live coverage of the United States-China women's basketball game, rowing finals, the softball semifinals, women's wrestling and women's table tennis. On tape, it will show women's water polo, women's volleyball between Russia and China, and quarterfinal beach volleyball.

MSNBC will be CNBC's virtual mirror, carrying boxing in late afternoons on the weekends but providing 10 to 14 hours of an array of sports on weekdays, starting as early as 1:30 a.m. Eastern, when the action in Athens is beginning.

Bravo's selection of events is less mainstream, and will include equestrian events, sailing, track, cycling, archery, badminton, shooting, judo, table tennis and synchronized swimming, with some mainstream tennis.

USA, which carried the United States Olympic trials, will offer a lot of live morning and afternoon coverage of tennis, United States men's and women's basketball games and women's road cycling. Also on its agenda: water polo, rowing, canoeing and equestrian.

For a complete viewer’s guide to edgecraft and edgecraft-free Olympic television coverage, click here.

Comments

[Mary-Ann Horley]

I'm really glad there's a word for this; I learnt everything I know about marketing from the sport of kart racing.

[Todd]

I am excited about what NBC has done to leverage its networks (including the recently acquired Universal properties). I think you are giving them a little too much credit.

While they are using the cable channels, they are showing the interesting stuff at times when most people are sleep or earning a living. In these early morning slots, all they were doing was running infomercials anyway. Not a huge jump for them.

The other annoyance is that all the alternatives are shutdown during prime-time. You are forced to watch NBC and its swimming, gymnastics, and puff pieces (though they seem to have been toned down).

There is no shortage content to show, so why not let viewers choose what they want to watch when they have time to watch it? I am sure it has to do with advertising dollars. I am also sure there is an alternative.

I say all this because the Olympics are amazing. This is the pinnacle of play for all of these sports. I was watching doubles badminton on Bravo tonight. I was in awe.

I just want to see more of the competition rather than the stories and matches that are created by the media and aired for prime-time viewing.

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

I hear ya Todd … but at least this is not 1992 when we were forced to pay $125 in order to watch the NBC pay-per-view TripleCast of non-prime time coverage of the Barcelona Olympics.

While the live coverage and the coverage of niche/edgecraft 2004 Athens Olympic sports does take place in non prime-time hours, at least consumer have options (USA, MSNBC, Bravo, and Telemundo) beyond the sole option of a pay-per-view scheme.