There are 101 days left until the London Olympics! Now, seeing as how I'm not athletic at all, it would seem surprising that I would follow any news about them at all, but what can I say - Those who can't do like to watch!
Here's where it stands. I've met the mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville. I suggest you watch the last part of the small movies about them here:
But, moving on, the London 2012 Olympics offer an interesting dilemma for broadcasters. How in the world to convince people to tune in for primetime events when, by then, everyone will be able to find the winners online and even watch the winning moments online?
The "first social media Olympics" in 2012 will apparently have a strict code when it comes to the athletes themselves. This mashable article goes on to say that athletes won't be allowed to tweet photos featuring anything that is not an official sponsor or even share pictures from inside the village. Now, as a curious viewer, I love it when people share random pics. I first started following cyclists on twitter (I kid you not. For 5 years or so, I would watch every stage of the Tour de France LIVE, which meant waking up at 5 AM to catch the beginning of the mountain stages - the stages where the Tour is won and lost.), and I loved the pictures of enormous pasta meals, the sunflower fields in France, bruises and injuries from each day, and pictures of biker tans. It may not have added to my knowledge of the Tour, but it did make me feel bonded to some cyclists more than others. For professional athletes, creating that bond can literally translate into money. Even better if they're a good athlete!
However, getting back on track, NBC (home of the 2012 London Olympics) has had to tackle the difficulties of the new media environment. Their solution is to give in...with reservations. NBC has decided to live stream anything they can get a camera on, but they will not archive big events. In doing so, they're banking on the fact that people cannot be at a computer at all times. And, considering time differences, they may be correct. In the same way that no one I know would be willing to TIVO the Super Bowl, NBC hopes that viewers will be drawn to the website (www.nbcolympics.com), which will likely feature some roomy ad space for sponsors ranging from McDonald's to Tide. There's sure to be plenty of youtube videos taken down for violating the terms of use and facebook is likely to be one huge spoiler for those waiting to watch primetime coverage of the Olympics. Despite all of that, the Olympics are sure to continue to be a huge ratings draw for NBC, and I honestly have to ask, why?
I'll admit, I don't think very often about why events like the Olympics make me so anxious to watch television. After all, if I'm being honest, there are much better things one could be doing rather than watching 3 hours of Olympics coverage for two weeks. There is a buildup, an orchestration of events that occurs around the Olympics though. Add on the personal stories of athletes who have sacrificed their lives to a sport for a chance, once every four years, to get an Olympic medal. You literally could not create a better environment for remarkable stories to unfold, for bonds between the public and athletes to develop, and for sponsors to take notice. I guess what I'm getting at is this: The Olympics are an athletic competition, but they're also the process by which national heroes can be created. They're the process by which products are advertised and athletes become advertisers. This is all starting to sound extremely cynical in my head, but spend some time to think about it. For all the athletes who win gold medals, who even place on the podium, there are more who don't place at all, who don't realistically stand a chance to medal, but who compete anyways. That is not to downplay the level of skill needed to reach the Olympics, because my skill is zero. However, one cannot help but wonder, why do sporting events like the Olympics draw so much attention? Is it the individual feats of athletes or a well-managed publicity campaign that draws us in?
Click here to read more about NBC's solution.
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