NBC Sees Record Video Streaming From London, Aided By Two Olympic Apps

NBC saw 159.3 million total video streams during the London Games, more than double the 75.5 million during the '08 Beijing Games. There were 64.4 million live video streams, up from 14.0 million four years ago. The majority (70%) of total video streams were on the web, compared to 30% via NBC’s two Olympic apps -- NBC Olympics Live Extra and NBC Olympics. Those two apps were downloaded more than 8 million times. Live video streams were also viewed more on the web compared to the apps (63% vs. 30%). In the Apple Store alone, the Live Extra app was the store’s most-downloaded event-specific app ever. Visitors to NBCOlympics.com also spent an average of 30 minutes per visit, up from 12.3 minutes during Beijing.

 

MOST-VIEWED LIVE OLYMPIC STREAMS ALL-TIME
DATE	SPORT	EVENT	LIVE STREAMS
08/09/12	Soccer	Women's final: U.S.-Japan (U.S. gold)	1,467,465
07/31/12	Gymnastics	Women's Team finals (U.S. gold)	1,462,834
08/05/12	Track & Field	Men's 100 meters (Usain Bolt gold)	1,288,941
08/02/12	Swimming	Men's 200 meter IM (Michael Phelps gold)	1,192,812
08/02/12	Gymnastics	Women's All-Around (Gabby Douglas gold)	1,096,319
07/30/12	Gymnastics	Men's Team final	1,067,679
08/06/12	Soccer	Women's semifinal: U.S.-Canada	1,047,733
07/31/12	Swimming	Men's 4x200 meter freestyle relay (U.S. gold)	1,010,416
07/28/12	Swimming	Men's 400 meter IM (Ryan Lochte gold)	891,819
07/29/12	Swimming	Men's 4x100 meter freestyle relay (U.S. silver)	823,194

 

SOCIAL CALL: Data from social media research company Bluefin Labs showed that NBC's coverage of the Olympics were more "social" than Super Bowl XLVI, this year's Grammys, Oscars and Golden Globes and all seven games of the Cardinals-Rangers World Series combined. Over the 17 days of the Games, there were 83 million social comments in total, 36 million of which were driven by NBCU telecasts. During the Games, Olympics-rated Facebook pages saw a increase of 12.2 million fans. Data from Twitter also showed that there were more than 150 million Olympic-related tweets. Less than 0.5% of those tweets contained the hashtag #NBCFail. Meanwhile, data from research firm Insight Express showed that 48% of viewers engaged with social networking about the Olympics during an event, while 28% engaged before and 68% after an event took place. Most (40%) of users engaged via laptop, followed by desktop/PC (36%), mobile phone (27%), tablet (12%) and gaming console (2%) (NBC).

FOLLOW ME: The dominance of the U.S. in swimming and gymnastics during the first half of the London Games was evident with the large number of new Twitter followers for the most-recognized medal winners. Michael Phelps gained nearly 1 million Twitter followers over the two-week Olympic period, while Ryan Lochte chalked up more than 750,000. Missy Franklin was the big winner among female swimmers with more than a quarter million new followers for the 17-year-old. The success of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team led to each of the five gymnasts seeing more than 100,000 new followers, with all-around champion Gabby Douglas leading the way with nearly 600,000 new followers. On the int'l side, some of the biggest Twitter stories have come from athletes who did not earn medals. The controversy surrounding the harassment of British diver Tom Daley led to a large spike in supportive followers, and South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius also has added nearly 100,000 new followers after his historic appearance in the Games. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt added more than 500,000 new followers even before his victory Thursday in the 200 meters. Listed below are the Twitter followers for the official pages of notable U.S. Olympians on the day of the Opening Ceremony on July 27 through Aug. 9 (Ryan Baucom, THE DAILY).

 

ATHLETE	JULY 27	AUG. 9	FOLLOWERS ADDED
MEN'S SWIMMING/DIVING
Michael Phelps	292,207	1,227,843	935,636
Ryan Lochte	143,674	897,783	754,109
Nathan Adrian	13,124	118,173	105,049
Brendan Hansen	10,195	38,290	28,095
Conor Dwyer	8,439	42,410	33,971
Cullen Jones	19,419	45,182	25,763
Ricky Berens	12,336	37,622	25,286
Matt Grevers	23,242	39,107	15,865
Tyler Clary	6,180	21,860	15,680
WOMEN'S SWIMMING/DIVING
Missy Franklin	82,342	341,067	258,725
Rebecca Soni	18,109	69,167	51,058
Dana Vollmer	9,693	59,795	50,102
Allison Schmitt	3,577	49,397	45,820
Natalie Coughlin	58,644	88,399	29,755
Elizabeth Beisel	6,647	20,392	13,745
Jessica Hardy	15,229	26,281	11,052
MEN'S GYMNASTICS
Danell Leyva	13,703	66,076	52,373
WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS
Gabby Douglas	35,754	600,967	565,213
Jordyn Wieber	62,457	438,030	375,573
Aly Raisman	39,966	382,413	342,447
McKayla Maroney	35,612	322,674	287,062
Kyla Ross	25,690	183,912	158,222
MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Tyson Gay	37,865	53,735	15,870
WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Lolo Jones	182,855	287,350	104,495
Allyson Felix	51,869	85,298	33,429
Sanya Richards-Ross	29,830	58,735	28,905
Kellie Wells	7,395	28,361	20,966
Carmelita Jeter	8,924	21,232	12,308
WOMEN'S BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Misty May-Treanor	88,188	133,980	45,792
Kerri Walsh Jennings	83,668	110,088	26,420
INT'L ATHLETES OF NOTE
Tom Daley (Great Britain/diving)	344,632	1,170,866	826,234
Usain Bolt (Jamaica/track)	634,092	1,174,411	540,319
Jessica Ennis (Great Britain/track)	213,410	602,247	388,837
Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain/cycling)	296,782	510,299	213,517
Oscar Pistorius (South Africa/track)	54,822	125,193	70,371
Yohan Blake (Jamaica/track)	7,222	64,143	56,921

 

NOTES: Charts do not include Olympians who are more known for the professional teams and leagues in which they usually compete, such as NBA players and pro tennis players.