London’s 2012 Olympic Games mark the first occasion where
online media has played such a large-scale, pivotal role in broadcasting the Olympics
to a worldwide audience. Already we’ve experienced political revolutions around
the world fueled by Facebook or by Twitter. If these revolutions have been
characterized as “Facebook Revolutions”, or “Twitter Revolutions,” then the
“Twitter Olympics” may well be an apt title for describing how these games were
experienced throughout the increasingly digitized world.
Viewers who opted to experience the Olympics digitally found
their ability to personalize which games they watched, and which athletes or
countries they followed, enhanced enormously. There was an “instant
gratification” factor, noted one commentator in Time Magazine, how he was able to watch “Ryan Lochte fail to medal
in the day’s most anticipated race while NBC’s viewers watched… water polo.”
Coupled with the tape delays associated with a major broadcasting network, and
how these delays were in contrast to the instantaneous, second-by-second
ability of digital viewers to watch the Games time-wise sans filter or hiccup,
and you can see why the world is quickly adopting digital media as the “Gold
Standard” for how it experiences broadcasting.
With several important digital media platforms slated to
likely roll out later this year – including the much-anticipated Apple TV
device – the Olympics shows just how easily digital media outpaces traditional
means of broadcast distribution. While NBC covered the games very well (and
earns from us a Silver medal), we at Telairity – and viewers around the globe –
have to hand the Gold over to where it belongs: with digital viewing.
