VIDEO: Olympics to provide vast opportunity for mobile content

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The opening ceremonies are set to kick off Aug. 8, and wireless users will have plenty of ways to follow the action on their phones. From text-message updates (NBC, 4INFO) to video (NBC via AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless and MobiTV) to the wireless Web (Sports Illustrated, Yahoo and a host of others), media companies and their partners are pouring resources into mobile in an effort to drive traffic, generate advertising revenues and find out what works – and what doesn’t – for the platform.

“With what we’re doing, we’re going to learn a lot about how people want to consume this content, and that’s incredibly valuable,” said Bruce Stewart, VP and general manager of Yahoo Inc.’s Connected Life Americas business. “We will find things that surprise us, things that underwhelm us, and we’ll have assumptions proven true and assumptions broken. That’s what happens at this stage.”

View from above

Yahoo is one of several U.S. media giants looking to get a top-down view of how people consume digital entertainment. The Internet giant has launched a new site with real-time updates, still photos and videos, and has enlisted former U.S. Olympians such as snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler and Dominique Dawes to offer commentary. A mobile site will serve as a stripped-down version of the PC destination, offering medal counts, news updates and photos.

NBC also is investing heavily in

the event, which executives describe as a “billion-dollar research lab.” The company has scheduled thousands of hours of Olympics programming on its television networks, and will leverage the content online through video streaming, on-demand video and mobile phones. AT&T Mobility will team with NBC on an exclusive, 24/7 channel on Qualcomm Inc.’s MediaFLO USA network, and Verizon Wireless will leverage NBC’s content to deliver video updates through MediaFLO.

Greater access

While the Olympics may not have the star power of, say, a Super Bowl, the event seems particularly well suited for mobile. The sheer vastness of the event overwhelms traditional media – NBC plans to deliver more than 90 days’ worth of live online video during the 16-day Olympics – but could allow fans to access, say, the pole vault competition directly without having to sit through synchronized swimming. And massive marketing spends should allow advertisers and publishers to push mobile as a viable entertainment platform, raising its profile among consumers.

“I think anything the carriers and media companies can do to generate demand for consumer consumption of this media on cellphones is a good thing,” said Julie Ask of JupiterResearch. “I think the Olympics are going to be great – it will be surrounded by advertising, it’s going to be on TV all the time, in the news and in newspapers. I think it’s a great event to begin to generate some sort of context why people would want either news or video updates on their phone.”

Location, location, location

The fact that the Olympics are being held on the other side of the planet may help, too. Live events simply won’t occur during prime time for U.S. viewers. Few fans will want to get out of bed in the middle of the night to watch a diving competition, but may tune in on their phones during the morning commute to get caught up.

And advertisers are on board with their content partners. NBC has included mobile as part of its Olympics advertising sales, and Yahoo’s ad partners for the games include Bank of America, Chevy, Comcast and Super 8. The companies won’t just be trying to raise brand awareness and increase customer loyalty, Stewart said, they’ll be watching to learn how to reach consumers through their phones.

“Advertisers are saying ‘How do I talk to consumers, how do I communicate with them on a mobile device?'” Stewart noted. “One of the ways we’ve looked at this is to say these are events that deliver really keen audiences, audiences that are really interested. When you can pinpoint people down to particularly sports, that’s a great demographic.”