NBC’s Olympic on-line coverage will be delivered by MSN —”NBCOlympics.com on MSN”– and use Microsoft’s Silverlight Technology to Stream Exclusive Interactive Video from Vancouver Winter Games to NBC’s U.S. Audience
NEW YORK and LAS VEGAS, Nev. – MARCH 18, 2009 – NBC Universal, owner of the exclusive U.S. media rights to the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada (February 12-28, 2010), announced today that it was teaming up with Microsoft and MSN to again create “NBCOlympics.com on MSN,” a next-generation online experience for Olympic fans across the United States that set online viewing records and drew critical acclaim at the Beijing Games last August. With competition video in both live and on-demand formats, deep analysis and results delivered from NBC’s award-winning broadcast and digital media teams, and Microsoft’s Silverlight technology to deliver deeply immersive user experiences, NBCOlympics.com’s coverage will be powered by Microsoft and MSN technology to complement NBC’s broadcast programming and put millions of fans in control of the Olympic sports, athletes and countries they want to watch.
“For the Beijing Olympics, Microsoft Silverlight technology set the standard by helping deliver the most dynamic online viewing experience to date,” said Gary Zenkel, President, NBC Olympics. “With the Vancouver version of NBCOlympics.com on MSN, we plan to raise the bar even higher.”
The two companies will work together to deliver Olympic coverage to the U.S. online audience, powered by Microsoft’s Silverlight technology. During the Vancouver Games, NBCOlympics.com (http://www.nbcolympics.com) content will be prominently featured on the MSN.com homepage (http://www.msn.com), as well as on MSN Video (http://video.msn.com) and across the MSN and Windows Live networks, all moving the massive MSN Network audience to NBCOlympics.com’s complete coverage of the Games.
“We’re thrilled to be NBC’s exclusive online partner for the Olympic Winter Games and to delight the millions of Olympic fans with extensive online coverage,” said Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president, Online Audience Business Group. “Building on our record-breaking success in Beijing, we will deliver an immersive, high quality and engaging experience for our customers.”
As a result of this unprecedented collaboration, “NBCOlympics.com on MSN” will deliver:
· Live event video coverage with simultaneous live video streams.
· More than 1,000 hours of on-demand video content including full-event replays, highlights, features, interviews and encore packages.
· An HD-experience powered by Silverlight that gives users the choice of a high-quality full screen viewing experience unlike any on the Internet today.
· Unique data views powered by Silverlight that enable fans to have access not only to high quality video, but also to the wealth of related content including results, statistics, comprehensive bios, rules and expert analysis from NBC’s Olympic digital media team in Vancouver.
· Live video alerts so fans can stay connected to the events and teams they care most about
“We are excited to continue our partnership with NBC during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics,” said Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the .NET Developer Platform at Microsoft. “We are confident that Silverlight will deliver the best experience possible to millions of sports fans via the Web.”
NBCOlympics.com on MSN, which MediaWeek Magazine called “a sweeping success” and the Los Angeles Times said “re-wrote rules for media in the future,” produced staggering statistics throughout the Beijing Games with 1.2 billion page views and 52.1 million unique users, more than doubling the combined totals for the Athens and Torino Games, while the 75.5 million video streams was seven time more than Athens and Torino combined. A total of 9.9 million hours of video consumed equates to 1,126 years of video.
BEIJING TORINO ATHENS
Page Views: 1.2 Billion 331.5 million 229.9 million
Unique Users: 52.1 million 13.3 million 11.9 million
Video Streams: 75.5 million 8.4 million 2.4 million
Hours of Video: 9.9 million N/A N/A
NBCOlympics.com on MSN also shaped the way viewers consumed the Olympics in Beijing:
· 46% of Olympic viewers said that being able to watch the Olympics on multiple platforms enhanced their Olympic viewing experience.
· 24% of Olympic viewers said that they watched more of the Beijing Olympics because it was available on NBCOlympics.com as well as on TV.
· 75% of visitors to NBCOlympics.com used TV and the website simultaneously at least once.
About NBC Olympics:
NBC has broadcast 11 Olympics, the most Olympics broadcast by any network. NBC surpassed ABC’s 10 Olympics with the 2008 Beijing Games, the most watched television event in U.S. history with 215 million viewers.
The 2010 Vancouver Games mark the sixth of an unprecedented seven consecutive Olympic broadcasts by NBC Sports. The impressive streak began with the 2000 Sydney Games and continues through the 2012 London Games. NBC has broadcast eight of the last 10 Olympic Games, both summer and winter; Vancouver will mark the ninth out of the last 11.
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