Thoughts about Nbc Olympics
Nbc Olympics
The web experience at NBC is powered by Silverlight, also giving Microsoft its first large-scale opportunity to gain distribution for the new web platform. It seems that there are very high expectations from not only NBC and Microsoft, but also advertisers, as Mediaweek today report that the online ad inventory for the NBC Olympics coverage is almost sold out. NBC says that 85% of all available inventory has already been sold, an extraordinarily high amount. 1
Powered by Wavexpress’ TVTonic Internet video service and client, NBC Olympics on the Go will allow owners of Media-Center-capable Windows Vista PCs (that’s Home Premium and Ultimate) to download “up-to-HD” coverage on a sport-by-sport basis. Users can chose from a number of channels in Wavexpress’ TVTonic client that NBC’s coverage of the Beijing Games will be categorized into, and the NBC Olympics on the Go client will be able to access event coverage roughly 12 hours after an event ends. Ars Technica confirmed with Wavexpress that users will not be able to keep downloaded coverage indefinitely, though videos will remain playable at least for the duration of the games. 2
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As Bill Gates announced at CES back in January, all video at the NBC Olympics site requires Silverlight, Microsoft’s rich web application and video streaming technology that competes with Adobe’s market-dominant Flash. Microsoft’s been pushing Silverlight pretty hard lately, and if a lot of consumers don’t have a reason to install it yet, the Beijing Games in August should be a good a reason as any. 3
NBC is bundling online pre-roll video and companion display ads with TV buys. Though most advertisers are purchasing TV and online, some are buying solely on the Web. It told investors recently it expects to collect around $1 billion from Olympics ad sales. 4
Providing summer Olympics coverage in a downloadable format like this is a natural evolution for NBC. For the 2004 Olympics, all the buzz was about the sheer amount of coverage NBC would be broadcasting (over 1,200 hours in total), as well as the introduction of over 300 hours of HD coverage from NBC and its affiliates. With NBC Olympics on the Go, consumers will have a convenient new option for bringing Olympics video footage with them, though the coverage will be sandboxed to PCs—and then just the ones running compatible versions of Vista. 5
Your PC needs to be connected to the Internet to download the event videos, but you can watch them while you’re offline. This means you can take the games with you wherever you go. 6
In addition, the media firm is offering widgets featuring news, video and event results. And, although it sharing functions are available in its Microsoft video player, Riley and fellow Jupiter Analyst Bobby Tulsiani contended NBC isn’t taking full advantage of syndication and interactive capabilities enabled by digital media. 7
In the 20th century, that could never happen. Putting live Olympics online meant everybody would get it, playing havoc with TV rights around the globe. But once technology allowed online content to be sent only to users’ specific Internet addresses — the technology that cleared the way for local TV Major League Baseball games to online without going into areas where TV rights needed protecting — the earth was no longer flat. 8
For the first time, mobile is a big part with NBC Olympics Mobile. That includes a mobile Web site, text and e-mail alerts plus mobile video and NBCOlympics 2Go, a mobile channel with event coverage that runs on NBC, USA, MSNBC and CNBC. 9
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Tags: beijing, bill gates, coverage, eurekster, go client, high expectations, mediaweek, nbc, nbc olympics coverage, olympics, olympics nbc, rich web, s market, silverlight microsoft, summer natural evolution, summer olympics, video service, video streaming technology, wavexpress, web application, web experience, web platform