For years, NBC and Yahoo have been fighting it out over how many people have been visiting their respective websites for Olympic news. Yahoo usually crows about the traffic hitting its site in huge numbers over NBCOlympics.com. This has made NBC execs see red over the Yahoo proclamations.
But on Monday, the two companies which have already forged an alliance for other sports announced one for the Olympics. They’ll promote each other’s stories, link to each other’s sites and co-produce a daily digital show surrounding the 2014 Winter Olympics.
We have the official announcement.
NBC OLYMPICS AND YAHOO EXTEND DIGITAL ALLIANCE WITH CONTENT AND PROMOTION FOR 2014 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
STAMFORD, Conn. – December 16, 2013 – NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group, and Yahoo have extended their existing digital alliance to include content and promotion surrounding the XXII Olympic Winter Games from Sochi, Russia. The alliance focuses on access for Yahoo’s audience in the United States to all of NBC Olympics’ exclusive digital video highlights and live streamed events on NBCOlympics.com, the creation of a digital Olympics daily show, and the showcase of various Yahoo products through the lens of NBC’s coverage of the Games.
“Yahoo’s massive U.S. audience will now have easy, one-click access to NBC Olympics’ exclusive and robust digital Olympic video assets,” said Rick Cordella, Senior Vice President & General Manager, NBC Sports Digital.
The NBC Olympics/Yahoo alliance around the Sochi Games represents another significant step in the one-year-old, NBC Sports/Yahoo Sports relationship that includes collaboration around premium sports news and events coverage, online and on-air; creation of original, short form video programming as well as cross-promotion of popular Yahoo Sports’ products, including Yahoo Sports Fantasy and Rivals.com.
“Bringing together Yahoo and NBC Olympics for the XXII Winter Games will give fans a deep and rich experience around one of the premier sports events in the world,” said Ken Fuchs vice president of Yahoo Global Media and head of Yahoo Sports and Games. “For the first time, our audience can jump right into watching highlights and live events on the NBC Olympics experience from Yahoo.”
As part of the agreement, Yahoo Sports experts will work in conjunction with NBC Sports and contribute Olympic news and analysis for digital segments that will be promoted to both NBCOlympics.com and Yahoo users. In addition, NBC Olympics and Yahoo will integrate Yahoo content and products such as Yahoo Search, Flickr and Tumblr to tap into the pulse of the American Olympic fan during the Sochi Games.
NBCOlympics.com will provide comprehensive coverage of all 15 Winter Olympic sports, results, and schedules as well as athlete bios and news leading up to and during the Sochi Olympics. And for the first time ever, NBC will provide live streaming coverage of all Winter Games competition plus full-event rewinds and extensive video highlights exclusively through NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports Live Extra app. Current NBC Olympic digital plans call for over 1,000 hours of live content over the 18 days of the Sochi Games.
NBC Sports and Yahoo Sports came together last year to collaborate around online and on-air premium sports news and events coverage; creation of original, short form video programming as well as co-branded popular Yahoo Sports’ products, including Yahoo Sports Fantasy and Rivals.com. The two companies co-produce on-air original video programming including SportsDash with Yahoo Sports every weekday and Fantasy Football Live on Tuesday and Thursday nights, in addition to an online digital version of FFL.
That wasn’t the only Olympic announcement on Monday. NBC announced that cable and satellite subscribers and verify their accounts on NBCOlympics.com so they can watch exclusive content on the website and through the NBC Sports Live Extra mobile and tablet apps.
Over 1,000 hours of live and archived content will be available to those who are able to authenticate their accounts. This will be the first Winter Olympics where all 15 sports and 98 medal events will be made available for viewing online.
The 2012 London Olympics were the first where NBC streamed every event online live for customers. NBCUniversal hopes to repeat that experience for the Sochi games.
Here’s the official press release from NBC.
CABLE, SATELLITE & TELCO CUSTOMERS CAN VERIFY SUBSCRIPTIONS NOW TO ACCESS MORE THAN 1,000 HOURS OF SOCHI OLYMPICS LIVE STREAMING CONTENT
Olympic live streaming content available exclusively at NBCOlympics.com and via NBC Sports Live Extra app for mobile devices and tablets
NEW YORK, NY – December 16, 2013 – The nation’s 100+ million cable, satellite and telco customers will be able to access more than 1,000 hours of live streaming content of the XXII Olympic Winter Games from Sochi, Russia this February – more than double the hours of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. At no additional charge, multi-channel customers can verify their video subscriptions now at NBCOlympics.com, NBC Olympics announced today.
During the Sochi Olympics, and for the first time in the history of the Winter Games, all competition across all 15 sports, including each medal-winning performance in all 98 events, will be live streamed on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports Live Extra app, the preeminent destinations for Olympic content and the exclusive homes of Olympic video coverage. The site will also feature exclusive content, real-time results, medal standings, event highlights and analysis, athlete interviews and profiles, and rewinds of all event coverage. In addition, by verifying their subscriptions on NBCOlympics.com now, multi-channel customers will have online access to coverage of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
The vast majority of live streaming will only be available to authenticated cable, satellite or telco customers, illustrating NBCUniversal’s support of “TV Everywhere,” the media industry’s effort to make quality content available to authenticated customers on multiple platforms, both in and out of their homes. Like no other event to date, the Olympic Games have been, and continue to be, a critical driver of “TV Everywhere,” helping to propel awareness and usage. Cable, satellite, and telco customers verified 9.9 million devices during the London Olympic Games, either on NBCOlympics.com or on the NBC Olympics Live Extra app. This is believed to be the most device verifications for a single event in TV Everywhere history.
“The London Olympics were a watershed moment for TV Everywhere as we verified a staggering 10 million devices,” said Gary Zenkel, President, NBC Olympics. “In the short time that has passed since London, TV Everywhere and the verification process have evolved, with more and more subscribers participating daily. We will again work closely with our multi-channel partners to make this the most successful and seamless TV Everywhere event in history.”
HOW IT WORKS
In order to access the more than 1,000 hours of live Olympic programming this winter at NBCOlympics.com, existing cable, satellite and telco customers should follow these verification procedures:
- Go to NBCOlympics.com/LiveExtra
- Click the “Verify Now” button
- Select your cable, satellite or telco provider
- Enter the username and password that corresponds with your account
- Upon verification of your subscription to an Olympics-eligible package, you will be signed in throughout the Games on that device!
Customers with multiple devices will need to repeat the procedure on each device. There is no additional charge for this service and a customer’s subscription will not be affected. Customers who do not have a username and password should contact their cable, satellite or telco provider to create one. More information about the process, including contact information for cable, satellite and telco providers, can be found at: http://www.nbcolympics.com/liveextra/help
WHAT’S NEW
Since the 2012 London Olympics, NBC Olympics has worked with the cable/satellite/telco industry to improve the verification process with innovative technology. Below are some of the features designed to provide a more seamless experience for the industry’s customers:
- In-Home Auto-Verification: Beginning February 6, the devices of some cable and telco customers will be verified automatically when used within the customers’ homes because their providers are employing In-Home Auto-Verification, which recognizes IP addresses and cross-references those addresses with subscriber accounts to automatically verify video subscriptions.
- Cross-Domain Verification: Customers who have already verified their subscriptions with Adobe Pass on their desktop or mobile device will not have to re-verify those subscriptions. The device will recognize their verification credentials and will provide immediate access to NBC Sports Live Extra’s live stream content.
- Longer Verification Window: Customers can verify beginning today because NBC Olympics and the cable/satellite/telco industry extended the verification window. As long as customers click “remember me” when verifying, they only need to verify on a device once for the entirety of the Games.
MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Coming off the tremendous success of the 2012 London Olympics, NBCUniversal and the cable/satellite/telco industry are once again partnering on a marketing campaign to educate customers about the verification process. Click here to watch a video with NBCUniversal on-air personality Ryan Seacrest that explains how to verify (http://www.nbcolympics.com/liveextra/help). It will also air as part of NBCUniversal’s Olympic cross-channel marketing efforts and on NBCOlympics.com. Customized versions of the Ryan Seacrest tutorial will begin airing on cable, satellite and telco systems platforms across the country in December. Cable, satellite and telco systems will also be provided with access to a toolkit of promotional assets including digital banners, e-mail templates, taggable promotional spots and additional marketing support materials to inform their customers about verification. A consumer sweepstakes with a grand prize trip to Rio de Janeiro in 2014 was also created as an incentive to encourage customers to verify in advance of the Games.
And that will do it.
