After 17 rousing days and the sight of Canadians throughout the Great White North celebrating Sunday’s Gold Medal hockey victory and the country’s record medal haul, all good things moose-t come to an end. Time to look forward to London, to Sochi, and to Rio. Trade that Molson’s for a pint, a shot of vodka, a caipirinha.
As an estimated 3.5 billion viewers in 200 territories did during the worldwide fortnight in Vancouver, it is likely that we’ll all be viewing the upcoming Games in England, Russia, and Brazil digitally. Through last Monday night, the NBC Olympics mobile site and iTunes app generated 58.2 million page views, according to the network, up 68 percent from the entire 17-day total of 34.7 million for the Beijing Games. Yahoo! saw 18.1 million unique users and 103 million page views, far outpacing NBCOlympics.com.
Will the 2014 games still be seen on the Peacock Network? According to a Sports Business Journal report, the IOC has not been able to generate significant interest in 2014 and 2016 U.S. TV rights. Of the media outlets that could submit bids, CBS and Fox Sports did not make the trip to Vancouver, Turner Broadcasting still hasn’t committed to bidding, and ESPN hinted that its final offer would be less than the $2.1 billion NBC paid for Beijing and Vancouver.
Regardless of which broadcaster ends up with the rights to the Sochi and Rio games, the U.S. appears to be playing much more nicely with the IOC. The Chicago Tribune notes that the IOC seems to be “celebrating the U.S. success.” IOC President Jacques Rogge was quoted as saying: “If the U.S. comes first by whatever count, they will claim a victory and that would be good for them and the Olympic movement.”
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With Team USA’s…