Digital Platforms Account for 6% of Olympics Viewers

• Posted: Monday, August 18, 2008
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• Author: pradhana
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• Filed under: Digital Content, Mobile TV

By Jason Ankeny

The Beijing Summer Olympics are galvanizing viewer interest in alternative broadcast platforms according to NBC Universal, which notes that its digital efforts are complementing, not cannibalizing, its conventional TV programming.

According to NBCU's total audience measurement index, or TAMi, 74.6 million viewers tuned in for Friday's Opening Ceremonies--while television accounted for 94 percent of the audience, online viewing represented 5.7 percent, mobile TV accounted for 0.03 percent and only about 36,000 viewers (0 percent) watched via video-on-demand.

"To some extent, these Olympics are staring to influence how people use new technology," said Alan Wurtzel, NBC Universal's president of research and media development. "About half of people who use mobile [to watch NBC Olympics content] are using it for the first time."

In addition, digital viewership is increasing as the Games continue: According to Wurtzel, web viewers grew from 4.8 million uniques Saturday to 7.8 million on Monday, with TV viewing also on the upswing during the same period. On Sunday--the most viewed day of the Summer Olympics so far--113 million viewers tuned in for NBC coverage, with television accounting for 107.3 million viewers, NBCOlympics.com contributing 5.1 million unique visitors, NBC's mobile site welcoming 494,506 unique visitors and VOD content attracting 27,594 viewers. [FierceMobileContent]

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