Early reports had rather low ratings for "the biggest concert in history" in the UK, but now, it turns out people in the US weren't all that impressed, either. Captain Obvious could have told you this, but Al Gore is no Captain Obvious.
The Saturday night highlight show, according to the Nielsen ratings, was watched by less than 2.9 million people. That may seem like a lot of people, but here's some perspective:
In 2005, more people watched Live 8.
And that same night, more people watched the Argentina vs Peru football game.
However, it was not all doom and gloom. Bravo, which covered the entire day, had an average of 740,000 viewers, which is their most successful Saturday ratings in history -- though they were nowhere near the expectations that "billions" of people would tune in.
Now, allow me to tell you why these concerts ultimately ended up not being that big of a deal.
01. Too much diversity
Let's face it -- most people like a certain type, or a few types of music, but very few people like everything. The concerts were too random, too diverse. Sure, I wanted to see Fall Out Boy and AFI. But I sure as hell didn't want to see Kanye West or Bon Jovi. Meanwhile, there were people retching at the thought of having to watch Fall Out Boy. It just doesn't work.
02. Hypocrisy
I watched a tiny bit of the show, catching the two bands I cared about. Middle of the day, on one of the hottest days of the year, blaring sun, in New Jersey. The stage had more lights than I've seen on a stage in my entire life, while people are talking about "energy conservation." Some of the bands were preaching vegetarianism while the venues served meat. People drove to these shows in masses; artists took planes, drove tour buses, etc. While I understand the point was awareness, more resources were used on that day than otherwise would have been.
03. Awareness
Everyone is aware of things like global warming, anyway. And the concerts weren't telling people how to solve it -- and couldn't have solved it, because it's a problem that can't be solved! There was no real goal. Farm Aid, Live Aid, shows like that -- there was a goal, a problem that a certain amount of money raised could help alleviate. Nothing is going to patch that hole in the ozone layer, nothing is going to stop global warming, and let's face it -- most people aren't going to change their lifestyles because Toby Keith played three songs and told them to use different lightbulbs.
04. Timing
The middle of the summer, Saturday night, on a "holiday weekend" that is traditionally regarded as the week with the lowest TV ratings all year round. With a target audience of music fans, why on earth would you air it on a night when they're usually not home? It makes no sense whatsoever. Obviously, more people would attend the shows themselves on a weekend, but the television viewers just aren't there on Saturday nights -- especially not the target demographics.
05. It's been done
Well, it has. Live 8 was pretty damned similar, and it was only two years ago. A million artists, simulcast around the world? There was nothing particularly groundbreaking here. And the Live 8 artists generally had longer sets and slightly more organized, logical bills, hence making the shows overall more appealing to the fans.
06. Politics
Let's face it. We're a divided country. There are some people who cringe at the mere mention of Al Gore and think anything he says or does is a complete lie. They don't trust Democrats, hate the "blue state" ideals, and want nothing to do with anything that comes from that camp. The more radical of these people wouldn't support something he initiated if it would stop a fire in their own house. You can go on just about any online forum discussing global warming/"the earth in crisis" and find tons of people who dismiss any and all claims that this is actually even happening. I can't see them tuning in.
To sum: it really was clear from the start that Live Earth was not going to be a life-changing event. For most people, in a year or two, it will be a foggy memory at best. And it didn't even do that bad, all told -- it just didn't deliver the same impact that we'll feel when an out of control comet takes us all to our fiery deaths within a few years or so.
