2008 Beijing Olympics as a Media Test-Bed

CNN is reporting that NBC is using the 2008 Olympics in Beijing as a test-bed to understand how people are using different media platforms. "NBC has scheduled 3,600 hours of Olympics programming on its main network, along with Telemundo, USA, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC and Bravo. That's the equivalent of eight days of programming packed into each day. In addition, the company is planning to make 2,200 hours of streaming video available on NBCOlympics.com. Consumers may also get video on demand via their computer and Olympics content through their mobile phones."

Comments

The Olymp-whats?

[writerjosh]

The problem with this test is: who's actually going to watch the Olympics?

If they're using the Olymipcs as a test bed to see how people view media, then somebody in that department needs to be fired. You can't test a wide range of media on content that nobody's going to view in the first place (at least not enough to make it a real "test" of various media strengths).

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[AuMatar]

A surprising number of people do watch them. I don't know why- most of the sports on the list would draw record lows on ESPN8. But throw in the every 4 years thing and some flags, and all of a sudden a large number of people care.

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[AkaKaryuu]

Who doesn't love ribbon dancing and curling?

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[Morris Thorpe]

Nobody's watching? You better tell the 4 billion people who were planning to do just that...

Beijing expects four billion TV viewers for '08 Games

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[mixmatch]

Maybe it has to do with the fact that it's an international competition for athletic dominance.

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[QuantumRiff]

I can't stand watching them on TV, because they will show one heat of a swimming event, then cut over to the 5000meter run for a few laps, then go to curling, etc. I want to watch the freaking event. Maybe if they stream all of it, I'll actually watch the events I want to. (I don't necessarly just want to watch the media's favoritte American's compete.. Thats not the point of the olympics)

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who doesn't love ribbon dancing and curling?

I'm a member of a Curling Club , you insensitive clod!

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[vertinox]

Nobody's watching? You better tell the 4 billion people who were planning to do just that...

Historically, the Olympics have gotten low viewership in the West even when we host the Olympics. I think the Beijing estimates are a bit rosy even though they would now of course be higher due to domestic viewership in China.

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[rronda]

Yes, you are right. Who would like to watch the best athletes in the world, make their best effort, competing against each other as they strive to be the fastest, strongest human beings in history, as they strive to achieve perfection in their disciplines. Who would be that crazy? PS: I know this guy is being a troll, but nevertheless ...

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[sexconker]

Chinese government to citizens: Watch the Olympics or be killed.

?

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[AuMatar]

In a bunch of sports that nobody cares about. Like I said- throw in some flags, and for some reason people watch.

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[fremsley471]

This piece wonders how they count those 4 billion

Lies, damned lies and TV viewing statistics: The most watched televised sports events of 2006

Sport/Event/Claim/Verifiable

Football, Italy v France World Cup final, 715.1m/260m

American football, Super Bowl Steelers v Seahawks, 750m-1bn/98m

Winter Olympics, Torino 2006 opening ceremony, 2bn/87m

Football, Champs League Arsenal v Barça, 120m/86m

Formula One, Brazilian Grand Prix, 354m/83m

NASCAR, Daytona 500, n/a/20m

Baseball, World Series game five, n/a/19m

Golf, US Masters (final day), n/a/17m

Tennis, Wimbledon men's singles final, n/a/17m

Basketball, NBA finals game six, up to 1bn/17m

Cycling, Tour de France (final stage), n/a/15m

Golf, US Open (final day), n/a/10m

Golf, Ryder Cup (final day), up to 1bn/6m

Commonwealth Games, Melbourne opening ceremony, 1.5bn/5m

Cricket, ICC Champions Trophy final, n/a/3m

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[QMalcolm]

Even more than that, it is a pure humanist celebration. Even though two countries hate each other, they compete together fairly under the same rules, and acknowledge when they lose. The entire world is also looking at one city for a while and if you follow the coverage you'll inevitably understand that place a little better.

And that's just the sports, there is all sorts of cultural stuff that goes on. Saying the Olympics are all curling and ribbon dancing is like saying the world cup is just a bunch of people kicking around a ball.

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[mixmatch]

I guess it just depends on who you talk to. I'm pretty sure NASCAR is pretty low on the rank of international sports, but its #1 spectator sport in the USA... Lets not equate NASCAR to racing. That would be like saying that gymnastics is defined by baton twirling.

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[The Cydonian]

To put it in a geek context, one word: Silverlight.

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[rronda]

I am sorry about calling you a troll. Rather I should have said that your post (rather than yourself) seemed like trolling. It didn't seem to me that "Who is going to watch the olympics?" was a rethoric question. You stated below that "content that nobody's going to view". If you were serious then you are very far removed from reality. You can look at some of the numbers for the Athens 2004 olympics here http://en.beijing2008.cn/16/8/article211928716.shtml

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[Chees0rz]

That's what I love about the olympics- even the long track events are fast (and interesting) enough that I can sit through them AND be entertained. I could never watch even a mile in highschool, or a 5k in d3 college track.
The Olympics are when distance events aren't just excuses to give sprinters rest ;)

NOTE: above is said with humor and respect.

I can't watch that long ass swim event, though (like 25 laps?)... and am glad when they cut away, but that's only because I don't understand the sport. So I guess I see why they do it to track/swimming... It isn't fair to people who really enjoy the sport, but it may keep more of a diverse crowd watching.
PS: GO MAINE CHICK IN THE STEEPLE!

Re:The Olymp-whats?

[chrish]

Curling's a winter sport, dude. Come back in two years.

When's women's beach volleyball on?

will they actually cover the sports this time?

[jollyreaper]

The other networks have to turn it into a fucking soap opera giving you a 20 minute tear-jerker biography of the damn athlete before each event. That cuts into time that could be better spent, I don't know, covering the actual Olympics? There are so many sports that don't even make it on television.

Re:will they actually cover the sports this time?

[Yvan256]

There are so many sports that don't even make it on television.

Tell me about it.

Re:will they actually cover the sports this time?

[hkgroove]

This is what I hate. Just show the events and forget the Costas crap "human interest" commentary.

Re:will they actually cover the sports this time?

[sizzzzlerz]

I've basically given up watching the broadcasts for exactly that reason. You only get 3 or 4 minutes of actual competition followed by a 15 minute sob story about some athlete having to deal with the deaths of her mother/father/sibling/uncle/pet goat after which they cut back to the studio where the talking head says where they'll be going to some time later but first these 10 minutes of commercials. And good luck getting any time for sports where the Americans are out of competition. Its simply not worth the frustrations anymore.

Re:will they actually cover the sports this time?

[shawn(at)fsu]

Agreed. I just want to see people compete at the highest level so I can see what something look likes when it's done "the best" it can be done.

If I want to know someones life story I'll check wikipedia.

Re:will they actually cover the sports this time?

[TubeSteak]

This is what I hate. Just show the events and forget the Costas crap "human interest" commentary.

There are essentially three ways to cover the Olympics:
1. Nationalistic Penis Waving
-My Country is better than yours; what a victory for [Country]

2. Human interest pieces
-[Athlete] worked so hard for this victory

3. Technical analysis of the event
-Look at his/her form in [event], the hip rotation generates power, etc etc etc

Of those three, which do you think is the hardest and most expensive to get right?
Hint: hiring knowledgeable & telegenic commentators for hundreds of events is not simple or cheap.

BBC streamed last olympics online, didn't they?

[Danny Rathjens]

I recall a lot of folks were annoyed during the last olympics because the BBC blocked access to their online video streams to American IP address blocks because of NBC legal threats/licensing junk.

Re:BBC streamed last olympics online, didn't they?

[sunderland56]

And the reason people were going to the BBC for online content was.... NBC's coverage sucks.

NBC insists on covering the Olympics "live", in prime time. Problem is - the Olympics are being held in a different time zone. So NBC tapes the events, blocks any "live" coverage that it can, and then presents the taped event in EST prime time as if was live. (That's why so many of the events on TV have *surprise* American winners - they just discard the tapes from events where the Americans lose badly).

Hopefully, if NBC is streaming content, they'll stream really live content from all sports. If not... then broadcasters that do a decent job in other countries will see a large uptick in their traffic.

Quality of the video streaming

[AmIyourJuliet]

I would love to see them actually stream decent quality video on their website. All networks want to boast their revolutionizing web access, when all they do is stream some ultra low res grainy crap. It's totally unwatchable when you are used to watching the exact same events in HD, for free. Why are content providers so scared to broadcast HD feeds via the web? They could leave the commercials in, and it would be the same as watching it on TV. It can't honestly be that they are worried about people distributing the content. I mean.... people can very easily capture the HD feed to their computer with a tv tuner. And when it comes to the "too much bandwidth" argument, couldn't they just use bittorrent? I know the reason probably has to do with money... but I'm not seeing it. Someone please enlighten me.

Re:Quality of the video streaming

[QuantumRiff]

An HD broadcast requires a big transmitter to be setup once, and then broadcast over the area. Big initial cost, then basically free (there are still some upgrades, power bill, etc) To show HD on the internet, your talking about Multiple Megabit connections for EACH viewer. The costs of that are astronomical. I guess, it would be similar to the differences between Multicast (transmit that 2GB file once to 100 machines), and unicast (transmit that 2GB file 100 times!).

Re:Quality of the video streaming

[rayzap]

Plus it is in WMT wrapped in SilverLight poo! No Linux, they promised Mac but did not deliver. WMT is a great streaming format for live but not when wrapped in SL poo. WMT is fine for corporate work but consumer streaming is best with Flash so all can view. NBC is just a big lumbering media company who no longer "gets it".

Re:Quality of the video streaming

[CopaceticOpus]

HD feeds wouldn't work out so well, as most people don't have the bandwidth. Bittorrent wouldn't be good for NBC, because think about what happens when the masses start learning how to use bittorrent. You know someone will edit out the commercials and create new torrents that will quickly become more popular than NBC's torrents.

However, it's not hopeless. I think they should create a proprietary, cross-platform P2P based Olympics viewer. A user could simply rank the events they were most interested in, and allow the program to download videos in the background. The program could then play these events back with a small number of ads included. The video ads should be brief, and supplemented by text ads on the user interface or below the video.

Most people don't care much about seeing the events live, so long as they don't know the outcome. Most events won't be taking place at the time people want to watch anyway.

There would be no need to encrypt the video. Let the determined few create torrents of the files, but the general public will accept a couple of ads in exchange for the convenience of using NBC's application, if it is well designed. Many people will also prefer the legal option, so long as NBC doesn't get greedy. Don't show 20 minutes of ads per hour like television, instead show 30 seconds every ten minutes. Otherwise you can't compete with bittorrent.

The Olympics is a global event, so the cost of recording the events should be shared among the various countries. Each country can then simply place their own commentators and graphics over the video feed. This will keep costs in check. (If they're really clever, they'll share the cost of developing the viewer application too.)

With globally shared video costs and P2P replacing broadcast costs, the expenses could be brought down so that the reduced number of ads still make a nice profit for NBC.

It may never happen, but one can dream...

What is this thing?

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

They keep bragging about something called the Beijing Olympics in NBC. What the hell is Olympics?

A Joke

[rayzap]

I am a track coach and the latest Olympic Trials streaming for track was a joke. They only webcast the same hours they broadcast. No in depth streaming, just re purposed broadcasting. Plus, if I have to watch stories instead of performances I am pissed. NBC is lost when it comes to Track and Field (as opposed to the NCAA where I happily sat at my desk and watched hours of great events. It's Ok to watch streaming as we are a streaming provider and I am the owner, haha.

Re:Silverlight

[ergo98]

I just tried looking at a few videos on that site, and it requires Silverlight. Why can't they use flash like everything else?

Microsoft Silverlight Gets a High Profile Win: 2008 Beijing Olympics.

NBC got incentivized. After Microsoft failed to gain control of Yahoo to use it as a channel to force Silverlight dominance, the NBC agreement was the fallback.

if you get CBC...

[wardk]

they do an outstanding job covering the Olympics, if you can get it.

while they of course emphasize Canadian athletes, they don't cater to them exclusively.

and you get to actually watch complete events. not flip from event to event in a format apparently designed only for those with attention deficit.

I bet CBC even gets some of the smog on screen. what a wonderful place to run long distances...

Bravo?

[ya really]

What exactly are they going to carry? Synchronized swimming?

Not just Silverlight only

[symbolset]

The actual events will require both Silverlight and Vista.

Thereby making absolutely certain that the videos won't be cached, transcoded and redistributed within seconds of their first webcast. You won't be able to archive them or time shift them or view them on the evil Lunix or your otherwise capable crackberry or eee pc. Right? Right? Because Vista's secure media transport and display has been perfected and will never be cracked.

This streamed olympic footage will not be available for fair use, ever. Not even long after even those who participated have ceased to care. Me, I don't care already. If they stream it to an open platform I might watch some of it but Vista alone is too much of a price to pay, let alone Silverlight. I think instead I'll click over to CNN and see if they manage to smuggle out footage of protesters.

Re:Not just Silverlight only

[symbolset]

Oh, really?

The Seattle PI reports: "However, there's a catch- this generous helping of everything from taekwondo to equestrian is exclusively available to Windows Vista users."

Now read my post again. Is some part of it not in agreement with the facts?

I think you're deliberately misunderstanding me in order to muddy the issue.

The NBC "Olympics On The Go" service will only be broadcast to users of Windows Vista . You can have the Olympics in "up to HD" but only if you take Vista too. I can only presume they are afraid their servers couldn't handle the load of allowing it to the broad audience of popular operating systems and handheld devices, even though users of that equipment are a much bigger market for their advertisers.

YEA!!! Eight hours a day with 20 minutes of action

[SengirV]

I can't even watch the Olympics anymore thanks to NBC bastardizing it. It's like they swap out the NBC sports division with the staff from Lifetime.

Guess what NBC, I WANT to see the fucking prelim races for ALL of the track and Field events. Not just 1/10th of the final race/event with 10 hours of stories about the F'n athletes that don't even win.

DIE!!! DIE!!! DIE!!! You've killed the Olympics NBC, and your network is in last place for a good reason. Isn't it time for Law and Order Peoria to make it's debut?!?!?!?

Re:The Olympics are Vista and Silverlight only

[The Cydonian]

First of all, it's 2 betas in over a year.

Since September 2007, we've had Silverlight 1.0, Silverlight 1.1, Silverlight 2 Beta 1, and two weeks back, Silverlight 2 Beta 2. None of the versions are backwards-compatible, in fact, between 1.0 and 1.1, the computing model had completely changed. code developed for one version isn't operable in others.

Second of all, this is the standard MS release cycle. They do an alpha or CTP. Then they do one or two betas. Then they do one or two RC's, and finally RTM.

The Olympics start on 8-8-08. Today's date is 8-7-08. We're at Ver 2 Beta 2 now. By your words, they need to do an alpha, at least one RC and then release NBCOlympics.com in production. All this in a month.

Gosh, Firefox 3 went through what, 6 RC's in one month. YEAH! DESPERATION!!!!! I SPITE AT THEE MICROSOFT, FROM MY MOTHERS BASEMENT!

I work with Silverlight on a daily basis; you can see some of the work my team did on the Silverlight showcase site (won't point to the exact entry). None of the work, though, was developed on Firefox, nor did we do any of it in my mom's basement.

Trust me when I say this, MS has been _extremely_ aggressive in rolling out new features and versions in Silverlight. We think the only reason they're so aggressive is because of the Olympics; this is a hard production deadline they can't afford to miss. That is why we have versions every month. Hence my supposition of there being panic in Redmond.

Re:The Olympics are Vista and Silverlight only

[rts008]

The message I got trying to watch one of the videos:

"Video is currently supported on the following browsers:

- Internet Explorer 6, 7 for Windows (2003, XP SP2 or greater, and Vista)
- Firefox 2 for Windows (2003, XP SP2 or greater, and Vista) and Mac OS 10.4.8+ (Intel only)
- Safari 2, 3 for Mac OS 10.4.8+ (Intel only)

- (coming soon) Firefox 3.x for Windows (2003, XP SP2 or greater, and Vista) and Mac OS 10.4.8+ (Intel only)"

*Disclaimer* I knew it would not work, just curious on what would happen. I run Kubuntu 8.04 and ff3.