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Peter Simpson

Multimedia technology boosts audience figures
The Beijing Games is likely to become the biggest broadcast event in the history of the Olympics.
Timo Lumme, managing director of IOC Television and Marketing Services, said yesterday a record 1.2 billion people were thought to have watched the opening ceremony via television and a dazzling array of digital multimedia.
'The opening ceremony was the highest-rated sports-related broadcast event in the history of Chinese television,' he said.
Multimedia technology also helped boost coverage.
'In China alone more than 102 million people watched the Games live online,' Mr Lumme said.
He said  31 million people in the United States saw American swimming sensation Michael Phelps win his eighth gold medal - an event that also saw an 18-year Saturday night viewing high for the NBC network, which paid nearly US$900 million for exclusive US rights.
'NBC drew 30 times more video views online than for Athens, when internet broadcasting was young,' Mr Lumme said, adding that more than 22 million video clips had been viewed so far.
'There is an unprecedented amount of Olympic sports content available, with about 5,000 hours of coverage provided for viewers in about 200 countries and territories,' he said.
Ratings were also strong in Britain, the host of the next Summer Games, thanks in part to the nation's biggest medal haul in a century.
India's interest has also increased sharply thanks to its first individual gold in Beijing.
'The IOC's broadcasting partners are expected to make a combined total coverage which will be about three times that of the Athens Games,' Mr Lumme said.
'In China, over 1 billion people have already watched some Olympic sports coverage. To cater for this demand, CCTV, the IOC's broadcast partner in China, has made two more channels available to include Olympics coverage. This makes a total of nine over-the-air networks.'
Mr Lumme said the IOC expected its revenue to increase for future Games.
The last two years have boosted  its coffers by US$2.6 billion earned from the 2006 Turin Winter Games and the Beijing Olympics.
The Vancouver Winter Games in 2010 and the next Summer Games in London in 2012 would see that figure rise to about US$3.9 billion, Mr Lumme said.
China's state broadcaster, CCTV, could expect to pay a bigger bill to secure the rights of future Games to reflect the country's economic reach and sporting clout, he said.
It paid a small amount compared with other networks to screen the 2008 Games, forking out just US$18.5 million.
He said CCTV could expect to pay in excess of US$100 million to show future Games. 'For the next Games, just for China, I think we have to be looking well into three figures,' Mr Lumme said.
Number of mainlanders who watched the opening ceremony: 842m
Hours of coverage made available to rights-holding broadcasters: 5,000
Number of Americans who watched Michael Phelps win eighth gold: 31m



Games coverage expected to make broadcast history