NBC Olympics has signed mobile video content creator NowThis to help build hype heading into the Tokyo Games this summer. The deal calls on NowThis to create at least 30 episodes featuring Team USA Olympians and hopefuls between March and the start of the Games in July. It is the latest in NBC’s strategy of finding incremental reach for its Olympic broadcasts by contracting with independent media more likely to be seen by younger viewers, following deals with Snap and Twitter.
NBC has the option to run NowThis video packages on its own digital and linear platforms. Each episode will be between 3-5 minutes and live within existing NowThis franchises: "Seen"; "I Have a Question"; "Her Stories" and "Opinions." Like with Twitter and Snap, NowThis will stop running the programming under its own brand once the Games start to maintain a consistent NBC voice, the network said. NowThis will produce similar content for the Tokyo Paralympics, which begin in late August, but in that case will also continue to produce episodes during the Paralympics. In '14, NBCUniversal News became an investor in NowThis.
