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Olympic Channel producers will create 1,700 pieces of content during the Rio Olympics.
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Producers at the startup Olympic Channel will create 1,700 pieces of content during the Rio Games, Olympic Broadcasting Services CEO Yiannis Exarchos told the IOC on Tuesday.
That works out to more than one completed feature every day for all 91 employees, including non-production staff. The rush is part of the plan to launch a fully functioning, albeit early generation, over-the-top channel after Rio’s closing ceremony on Aug. 21.
“We would not like to start by giving the sense that the platform is not rich enough,” Exarchos said.
Along with the freshly produced content documenting the athletes, fans and stories of Rio 2016, the channel already has finished 400 original pieces of programming and another 650 created by re-editing and compiling archival footage.
Eleven international sporting federations have signed agreements allowing for digital simulcasts of their live events in the first 90 days of the Olympic Channel, said IOC managing director of television and marketing services Timo Lumme. Twenty-seven out of 35 Olympic federations have signed some kind of deal with the channel, with FIFA and the IAAF among the holdouts.
The digital channel will be free to watch, designed as a way to bring more advertising and sponsorship opportunities to the Olympics’ 12 worldwide sponsors. It will be available on olympicchannel.com, mobile apps and Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube feeds.
Lumme also disclosed Tuesday that talks are underway with Snapchat.
Some sponsors have questioned the initial value of the channel, and none have stepped up as buyers so far. Exarchos tried to make the sales pitch Tuesday, noting the channel has already received 800,000 impressions since its launch date was announced last week “without any promotion.”
The IOC has committed $600M to fund startup costs and the channel’s first few years of operation.
