Olympics: Only 0.2% of Viewers Exclusively Watch Online
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Olympics are off to a good, but not amazing start on the Internet. Over the first three days, NBC's online coverage drew an average of 4.7 million viewers per day, with the numbers steadily rising over the weekend. So far, Sunday was the most watched day, with 5.1 million total users and 3.42 million streams. According to the same article, only 0.2% of all viewers exclusively used the Internet to watch the Games, while 90% used the traditional TV coverage exclusively and 10% used both the Internet and TV.
As we have pointed out before, this year's Olympic Games represent a major departure from NBC's traditionally conservative way of using the Internet for covering major sports events. While this year, NBC offers about 3,600 hours of live online coverage, the Turin games only saw 2 hours of live streaming video. Based on the numbers so far, it would seem that the online coverage is not detracting from the traditional TV coverage at all, but, at least for the majority of viewers, merely a secondary source for coverage. At the same time, though, it's important to point out that, at least for American viewers, so far only the swimming competition has really seen a lot of excitement and media hype - as the Games continue, these early numbers could easily change very quickly.
Short Attention Span
There are a number of other interesting bits of information in the data from NBC, including that face that the average time people spent watching video on the NBC site so far is under 15 minutes and was as low as 10 minutes on Friday. This is very much in line with how people use Internet video on other sites like YouTube. NBC did not specify how many viewers watched the live coverage and how many of them just viewed already recorded clips. Judging from this number, it would almost seem as if most viewers wither decided to mostly watch prerecorded clips, or that they did not stick around for the live coverage for very long.
But What About the Experience?
Over the weekend, we had quite some time to play with NBC's video player, and while the overall experience was good and the video quality was actually very good and the streams never stuttered once, the video player itself is a bit of a disappointment. Why, for example, is there no full-screen mode available?
Also, the much touted "Live Video Control Room," where you can watch up to 4 streams at a time, is pretty much useless because of the miniscule size of the videos. Also, as Chris Albrecht points out, the user interface and navigation of the site is often confusing.
Overall, though, it seems these Olympic Games will hopefully change the way TV executives think about online coverage. Clearly, the online coverage is not detracting from TV viewership and if anything, is enhancing the way people relate to the events, especially in a year where the large time difference and the time-delay of the TV coverage become such an important issue. While the overall numbers for online viewership are maybe not as high as some others expected, we will have to see what happens during the week now, where many viewers might start watching the online streams from work.
Comments
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We agree, it's a great complimentary service to the Olympics. We heard that the opening ceremony drew in a record amount of viewers (with TV) so we're not surprised that the online medium isn't as popular.
Color me nutty, but, as much as I love me some Interwebs, nothing beats seeing the 4x100 men's relay in glorious HD.
I dislike that you have to install Silverlight to watch any videos.
I agree with #3, why should I have to download silverlight to watch the video. I think many people are put off by that fact alone.
NBC's stated policy is that any/all live events will be shown on TV and not streamed on NBCOlympics.com. Thus, the results are not accurate as I don't really have a choice of TV vs Internet.
I think the popularity of big screen tvs has a big paper on this. Who would rather a 19" or even smaller screen instead?
I meant big role, by the way.
I tried to watch the Olympics online, I don't own a TV so this would be the only way to watch for me (unless I went to a bar or friends etc.) and I found the Website incredibly hard to navigate and impossible to tell when the events I wanted to see would be on. Very devastating as I had really high hopes after all the hubbub about online Olympics.
Ultimately NBC makes it incredibly hard to watch the Olympics online, I think that they are forcing people to the TV to up their neilsen ratings.
Hmmmm, that number sounds low, is that what NBC's Silverlight dashboard is telling them? Has that number of online viewers been altered to assured NBC's advertisers they are getting their money's worth?
It's ironic that the NBC lawyers scream that 50% of all TV shows are pirated on Bit Torrent to justify their leaving iTubnes and build Hulu...than turn around and say only 0.2% of the Olympics ate being watched online.
Which is it NBC lawyers? Rampant Priracy or 0.2% watching online?
1. I went to the site and it took me a minute or two to find out how to get to the live video. And once I found out, I went to "localize" my coverage and found that my cable provider (RCN) isn't an official partner and was denied. So I picked Comcast and it let me in.
2. Silverlight download in Firefox required me to download the install app, close all browser instances, run the setup program, then manually go back to nbcolympics.com. Meh.
3. So now I got back in, and I was shown a 3 minute video about pandas. It took me another 30 seconds of looking around until I actually found the live streams.
4. Now I'm watching the live Badminton stream and see no way of switching the stream to another sport without completely closing out of the player, going back to the main page, and clicking around again.
No wonder they are getting dismally low numbers on live video.
I definitely don’t consider myself an uber early adopter... More of a “pragmatic early adopter” :-) But I am one of the 10 percent that logged into NBCOlympics.com while watching coverage on the TV.
My take away was more around the future of Interactive TV. It seems this scenario is more of likely glimpse of the future of interactive TV.
For the most part if you are watching TV with at least one other person, this shared experience doesn’t do so well if it is an interactive experience. Just think about the fights that occur for the remote control. Sure there might be some examples (TV Game shows...) but for the most part – it is a lot easier to sit next to your couch mate with your own laptop and to peruse what is of interest to you. We still had the shared experience of watching TV together but I was able to check out more info and watch some streams without annoying my wife.
Mission accomplished.
I can't even watch it at home online, because I have a PPC Mac. I am annoyed by silver light and Microsoft for this. Only Microsoft can figure out how to not let everyone watch video online.
I have used it at work and silverlight works okay and has some cool features, but overall the system needs some work.
This project would have been a lot bigger success if it was in flash.
I agree about Silverlight, it's definite barrier to entry. The install is not elegant (quit the browser, run the install, then go back to the site and find the video that you want to watch again). Yuck.
Silverlight was 100% of the reason I decided not to watch it online. I have no intention of allowing any Microsoft code anywhere near my MacBook.
Not to mention that there's something really off-putting about how hard NBC is working to make sure you can't see ANYTHING on YouTube, ESPN, or anywhere else.
Posted by: sleepcamel.net
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August 11, 2008 4:29 PM
I have to agree with a lot of people on this discussion point...watching the Olympics online is just not the same. I much prefer watching them on the TV.
That said, I do use the Internet to catch any highlight I might have missed or to catch the latest medal win per country.
Miss Gisele B.
Watching videos online is something very much in now a days. Youtube has done something incredible to set this trend.
As for as Watching Olympics Online is the question, very few people do it due to patience required for it.
Well, I remember my friends who watched FootBall Worldcup 2006 through live streaming.
Personally, Microsoft Silverlight is great. The Video Player is not the nicest one, but it definitely does it part in getting the video for you to watch. All those complainers should give it a shot before they hear "experiences" from people.
I agree Silverlight is great... but for a huge Microsoft company I believe they could have done better. Mac has it's own advantages... but also disadvantages. The same counts for Microsoft.
Like Marissa, this is the only way I can watch the events b/c I don't have a TV. Leaving aside interface questions, the content isn't the same. For example:
- Michael Phelps's 8th gold win wasn't available online until several hours after.
- The "replay" feeds show the entire event without commentary. If you're not familiar with the sport, watching in full with no context is really not so gripping.
- Even the top 8 or top 10 lists of clips they show have no commentary, so you don't know why the thing you're watching is worth watching, why it made the list.
- The edited events "highlights" events are very edited...they feel short and clipped compared to watching the TV coverage.
So basically there's not a lot to reward you, once you dig through the clunky interface, and in no way is it a substitute for the quality of coverage offered on TV.