I didn't watch the race since I was running but there were two huge advantages NBC had or I guess I should say 2 less pitfalls over typical marathon broadcasts.
One there was no wheelchair race. Cutting away from the running race to show the wheelchair race and then interview the winner's drives me crazy and almost always causes the viewers to miss key points in the race. Not trying to take away from the wheelchair athletes but there are very few of them compared to the able bodied runners and the broadcast should reflect that.
Two, no celebrities or human interest stories for them to cover. Just a couple hundred elites.
I think we can all agree running will never be as popular as the major sports but before it's completely written off I think we need to see some competent broadcasts. The way most broadcasts are you they constantly cut away and you don't see much of the race, don't see big breaks or surges and then they show the winner finishing and then the camera follows the winner so you don't see any other battles to the line. The NFL equivalent would be showing a few random plays throughout the game and then watching the qb take a knee to end the game, would anyone watch that?
Glad to hear they've finally figured out split screen technology. My next wish is for TDF like runner track scrolling along the screen. This would be so easy to do I am baffled why networks don't do this. NBC sports net does TDF so why can't they use this same tool when broadcasting a road race?