USOC CMO Lisa Baird was a featured presenter as part of the Monetizing Media Assets Series, delivering notes on how to create and monetize content around the Olympics. As for what fans are looking for between the Games, Baird cited research done by the USOC, saying that “engagement is not just media consumption, although that is very important." Baird: "Part of what we measure is participation. We very much care that our national governing bodies are growing very healthy and vital membership. We also have a vested interest in helping them identify the next group of elite athletes that would form future Olympic teams. ... So the research shows that over one year before the Olympic Games, 26 million Americans are engaged deeply with Olympic content. Of course it goes up during the Games, and then it goes back down. So our challenge was pretty clear. ... We’ve got to engage these fans outside just the Games themselves.” She noted one of the organization's challenges is to "make sure that when we do invest our marketing money, it’s really getting the yield and the productivity and the ROI that’s double what a public company might expect.” Baird noted one thing the USOC can do more of is “provide fans something they cannot get anywhere else – inside access." She added, "It’s not different from what many other properties do, and it’s something that Americans hunger for.”
WAVE OF THE FUTURE: Baird brought up cord cutting and going mobile, saying the USOC “is going there too.” She said, “One of our biggest investments will be our mobile app. That is not only going to be Games-focused, but we’re going to be launching that early in 2015 and it’s going to be an app that really covers Team USA as they travel thousands of miles to different countries to compete in World Cups and national championships. ... Our goal this year is to provide a year-round app with coverage 365 days a year. It’s actually a pretty critical took when there’s an athlete you’ve never heard of before. You can go to the app, find biographies and be able to engage with one of thousands of athletes in the middle of their qualification for the Rio Games.”
