NBC Issues Apology Over Accidental Olympic Spoiler

NBC apologies for spoiling the Olympics to anyone and everyone who saw the TODAY Show promo that ran before Missy Franklin’s 100-meter victory. During the commercial break scheduled before Franklin’s performance at the 2012 London Olympics, NBC ran a promotional spot for their popular morning news program, which featured the swimmer holding a gold medal. Those who were watching pretty much had the entire event spoiled for them moments before the broadcast was set to hit airwaves in the United States.

“When you’re 17 years old and win your first gold medal, there’s nobody you’d rather share it with,” the spot proudly proclaimed. “We’re there when Missy Franklin and her parents reunite. A Today exclusive — live from London. Tomorrow.” The commercial came equipped with images of Franklin holding her gold medal. Whoops.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, viewers, many of whom are already irritated with the tape-delay coverage of the summer games, immediately began complaining to NBC. The company, in an attempt to soothe the irritated nerves of its audience, issued a statement on the matter shortly after the mistake made its debut.

“Clearly that promo should not have aired at that time,” NBC Sports said in a statement. “We have a process in place and this will not happen again. We apologize to viewers who were watching and didn’t know the result of the race.”

NBC also assured viewers that this sort of error would not happen again in the future. Given that viewers are already none too pleased about not receiving the games as they occur, this sort of mistake probably isn’t going to fare well with the network’s critics.

According to CNN, NBC’s ratings of the London games have been strong despite the criticisms. The network enjoyed 31.6 million viewers during Monday night’s coverage of the Olympics. NBC has reason to celebrate, as these numbers are the highest for a non-U.S. Summer Games in nearly 36 years.