Let’s not forget the Olympics are a global TV event and that NBC’s innovations and sometimes frustrating decisions are only one part of the 204 nation event. After just a few days, it’s already clear how drastically social has affected the Olympics. With the games underway and the world tuned in, we looked into some of the other countries’ efforts to bring the games to social and the second screen. Here’s what we found.
International Olympic Committee:
The IOC’s own Facebook page has over 3 million likes and their Twitter has 1.4 million followers. They’re hosting live video and chats on their page and have partnered with Facebook for “Explore London 2012“, a simple and beautiful guide to the games. There’s also the Olympics Athletes Hub, a part of Olympics.org giving a chance for athletes to stay in touch with their fans on social and for fans to easily search and find their favorite athletes.
United Kingdom:
Not surprisingly, the host of the 2012 games is going big with social and the second screen. They’re promoting a number of different London 2012 apps that include results and the official mobile game. They’re also reporting on the social success of the games in roundup posts and have Twitter and Facebook accounts.. The BBC is the official broadcaster of the games. They’ve launched smartphone apps (below) but don’t seem to have an iPad companion. They also have dedicated Twitter and Facebook pages for the games.
Australia:
The official broadcasters of the games are The Nine Network and Foxtel. The Nine Network’s digital presence is almost identical to the now extinct MSNBC.com. NineMSN.com, a join venture between the network and MSN is the main destination for the TV network. A third level domain within that site is devoted specifically to the linear network. In honor of the Olympics, they’ve launched the “Social Games“, a way for fans to compete with each other for points and badges by participating in trivia and sharing content across the social web. On the second-screen front NineMSN launched Jump In an iPad app with a Twitter tracker and updates on the games. The Foxtel app streams all eight channels and allows you to record games on your set-top box remotely.
Canada:
CTV, the broadcaster of the games in Canada has also made social a big part of the experience. On their site they feature what’s trending on social at the moment and are also promoting #CTVOlympics. Their “Ultimate Fan” social app (below) looks and feels very similar to the NineMSN experience giving fans the chance to use social to rise on a leader board. Samsung is sponsoring this social experience. They also have second screen apps that feature live streaming of the games and social.
China:
The previous host of the summer Olympics is taking social and the second screen seriously. Weibo, the nation’s Twitter meets Facebook competitor, has launched a Farmville-like social game for the Olympics. This massive social experience (below) is sponsored by China Mobile and Suning Electronics. The app was developed in partnership with RedWorks Bejing, an arm of advertising giant Ogilvy & Mather. CCTV is broadcasting the games in China.
France:
France Télévisions is the official broadcaster of the games. On their official Olympics website they’ve included a Facebook social experience sponsored by Asics, that allows you to automatically share content on your Facebook timeline with an on/off switch.
Israel:
Israel’s IBA station is airing the games and the contract detailing their rights to air is available here. The contract even includes a section on “new media revenues.” This Olympics marks the 40-year anniversary of the 1972 Olympics in which terrorists killed Israel athletes. IBA is featuring a commemoration on their website. Instead of developing apps, they’re promoting a QR code on their website and Olympic Facebook page that will take you to a mobile optimized website for information on the games.
There are 197 other nations participating in the games. Let us know about other social TV and second screen activations that the official broadcasters are using to promote the games.
A big thanks to Liz Duval (@LizardSocial) for her research for this post.