I just got home from a weekend with my family in Vero Beach, FL, one of my favorite places in the world.  I moved there in 1981 to start my first business.  It is where I met my wife, it’s where our children were born, and it’s where my father lives.  Great weather, nice people, beautiful beaches, and incredible golf courses.  It really is a little bit of heaven right here on earth. 

Two of reality TV’s heavyweights squared off last week, and guess which one won. I’ll give you a hint: it wasn’t the one with superbly-trained athletes who’ve dedicated years of their lives to the relentless pursuit of victory in short and spectacular performances. Nope, it was the motley collection of warbling, whining, and wince-worthy performances that makes up American Idol.

Two of reality TV’s heavyweights squared off last week, and guess which one won.  I’ll give you a hint:  it wasn’t the one with superbly-trained athletes who’ve dedicated years of their lives to the relentless pursuit of victory in short and spectacular performances.  Nope, it was the motley collection of warbling, whining, and wince-worthy performances that makes up American Idol.

In head-to-head competition, Idol creamed the Olympics by more than 11 million overall viewers and more than twice as many in the key 18-49 demographic.

Much has been written about how the Olympics is suffering because the other networks are putting up new episodes of their best programming – like Lost, 24, Idol and Desperate Housewives — to compete, but I think at least two less-noticed factors were at play. 

First, American Idol offers one compelling element of reality TV that the Olympics lacks:  interactivity.  The voting process (although it hasn’t yet started) hooks members of the audience into a deep loyalty for both the show and individual singers on it. 

Second, the Internet.  When you know by 1 p.m. sitting at your desk who is going to win the Gold, your incentive to watch that night’s actual events disappears.  Worse, with the U.S. not performing up to expectations, who wants to watch our athletes finish out of the running? 

As I said earlier, I think NBC has done a great job at presenting the Olympics on TV this year, but networks and Olympic executives will have to do some fundamental rethinking of their strategy if they want to draw more viewers — on TV, online, and on other devices — in the future.