Viewing live sport on TV screens is "not quite dead yet," despite the rise in second screening, according to a senior exec behind the Olympic TV channel while former England rugby player Lawrence Dallaglio said that sports fans will not tolerate inauthenticity. Mark Parkman, GM of Olympic Channel Services, was speaking alongside Dallaglio, now an advertising exec, on a panel discussion at the World Rugby Conference in London on Monday. Parkman said, "I think the first screen is not quite dead yet. Even when I am watching a sporting event now I am on Twitter, I am on Facebook. I am looking to see what the conversation is. That can only be used to drive more viewers to the bigger screen and that is what we have to do." Real-time communications during a sporting event represents a huge opportunity for brands to cash in but, according to Dallaglio, there are some clear traps for brands to avoid. Dallaglio: "If you are a sports brand -- and there are many -- you can have that conversation during the game and sports fans will appreciate that. If you are a non-sports brand they might question why you are having that conversation." In the U.S., Dallaglio said that fan engagement, helped by stadium connectivity, is at "a whole new level" and would be replicated in Europe. Parkman, meanwhile, revealed some metrics relating to the Olympic Channel, the channel which launched on Aug. 21 and broadcast over 300 hours of live coverage of the Olympics as a key part of the Olympic Movement’s push to engage more young people and spark interest in Olympism year-round. He said, "We started our social following July 27 and we started with zero followers. We're now more than 2 million. We are seeing more than 300 million video views. And we have grown our YouTube audience by about 23 percent."
John Reynolds is a writer in London.
