TimmyHThe YouTube Olympics
August 7th 2008 07:06
During the Beijing Olympics, YouTube will be providing about 3 hours of exclusive sporting coverage. The content will include highlight reels and a daily wrap-up but understandably NOT live coverage.
The programs are expected to reach people in 77 territories that aren’t covered by Olympic sponsors including South Korea, India and Nigeria. Users in the U.S and other countries where the International Olympic Committee has sold digital video-on-demand rights will be blocked from accessing the footage.
"For the first time in Olympic history we will have complete global online coverage," says Timo Lumme, the IOC's director of television and marketing services. The service will provide Olympic footage to the "young generations of sports fans" who are already going online for entertainment.
YouTube’s director of partnerships in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Patrick Walker, says that the IOC will be uploading between 500 and 800 segments of video during the Games.
YouTube expects advertising revenue to be minimal because of lack of access to the U.S. market. But the advertising rights will be exclusively sold to Olympic sponsors.
"This is really more about the accessibility," says Mr. Walker. YouTube hopes to seize more sponsorship opportunities by extending the partnership with the IOC in coming years, he says.
He hopes that the content will reach over 200 million people, but acknowledges that the markets that can access it only have relatively small online audiences. Chinese viewers (who are blocked from accessing YouTube) will only be able to watch Olympic content on CCTV, China Central Television.
The nature of online video in the current marketplace means that control over content will be difficult for the IOC to maintain. Online video has grown considerably since the 2004 Athens games, where only a dozen territories had access to footage. The new program is part of a concerted effort by the IOC to provide a quality video service across a variety of media platforms.
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The programs are expected to reach people in 77 territories that aren’t covered by Olympic sponsors including South Korea, India and Nigeria. Users in the U.S and other countries where the International Olympic Committee has sold digital video-on-demand rights will be blocked from accessing the footage.
"For the first time in Olympic history we will have complete global online coverage," says Timo Lumme, the IOC's director of television and marketing services. The service will provide Olympic footage to the "young generations of sports fans" who are already going online for entertainment.
YouTube’s director of partnerships in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Patrick Walker, says that the IOC will be uploading between 500 and 800 segments of video during the Games.
YouTube expects advertising revenue to be minimal because of lack of access to the U.S. market. But the advertising rights will be exclusively sold to Olympic sponsors.
"This is really more about the accessibility," says Mr. Walker. YouTube hopes to seize more sponsorship opportunities by extending the partnership with the IOC in coming years, he says.
He hopes that the content will reach over 200 million people, but acknowledges that the markets that can access it only have relatively small online audiences. Chinese viewers (who are blocked from accessing YouTube) will only be able to watch Olympic content on CCTV, China Central Television.
The nature of online video in the current marketplace means that control over content will be difficult for the IOC to maintain. Online video has grown considerably since the 2004 Athens games, where only a dozen territories had access to footage. The new program is part of a concerted effort by the IOC to provide a quality video service across a variety of media platforms.
Really Long Link
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