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The New Colors of Olympic Media

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About the lecturer • Academic background

– BA in Communication and Public Relations (Bucharest, Romania)– MA in Management and Business Communication (Bucharest, Romania)– MA in Strategic Communication (University of Missouri, USA, Fulbright scholar) – Currently PhD candidate at the University of the West of Scotland (UK)

• Current position– Independent Public Relations Consultant

• Former clients – Romania: Coca-Cola, LaborMed Pharma, Kandia – USA: Hallmark Cards, Albert Honda, Television Bureau of Advertising– Brazil: hOw (help Our world)– Belgium: Netlog

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• Definitions• Short history of media @ the Games • “New!” media • Beijing 2008 • The Social Media Olympics

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media 1 |ˈmēdēə|noun1 plural form of medium.2 (usu. the media) [treated as sing. or pl. ] the main means of mass communication (esp. television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet) regarded collectively : [as adj.] the campaign won media attention.

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Olympic Movement encompasses any organizations, athletes or persons who agree to be guided by the Olympic Charter and to recognize the authority of the IOC in respect of that commitment

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Convergence media culture the collision of old and new media, along with the intersection of grassroots and corporate media and the unpredictable interaction between media producers and media consumers

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Web 2.0 the era of user generated content and the boundaries between media genres boundaries blurred

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Looking back

• 1867 - modern typewriter• 1877 - high speed photography• 1884 - the linotype printing press• 1887 - invention of radio• 1888 - roll film camera• 1895 - invention of cinematography • 1896 - first modern Olympic Games• 1902 - radio signals• 1906 - first communication of human voice• 1910 - first talking motion picture• 1936 - first uses of photojournalism as a new independent genre (during the

Spanish Civil War) + black & white TV

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Innovation Olympics

• Live broadcast (Cortina,1956)

• Live multi-national simultaneous broadcast, instant replays (Rome, 1960)

• Satellite broadcast, freeze-frame (Tokyo, 1964)

• Color live broadcast and slow-motion footage (Mexico, 1968)

• Video-on-demand, 3-D high-definition, “webcasting” (Nagano, 1998)

• Online television (Athens, 2004). • Video coverage for mobile phones; Olympic news and images shared online

(Turin, 2006)

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Media competition• London, 1929 - first radio presence (with restrictions imposed by the Newspaper

Proprietors’ Association) “The BBC still had to take news bulletins exclusively from the press agencies (the Newspaper Society, Reuters Limited, the Press Association, the Exchange Telegraph Company and the Central News); could not edit its own news (this remained in force until 1930); and could not broadcast a news bulletin until 6 p.m”)

McCoy, 1997

• Berlin, 1936 - the first media regulations ("General Rules and Regulations for the Printed Press and Radio”)

"announcers and reporters to restrict their comments to the Olympic events and travel appreciation, with no mention of the political, and especially religious, issues in Germany”

McCoy, 1997

• London, 1948 - BBC offers IOC money for the exclusivity of broadcast• Helsinki, 1952 - the first official TV rights negotiations

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The Olympics favorite medium: TV

• 1958 - Article 49 (Media Coverage of the Olympic Games) being incorporated in the Olympic Charter

“1. IOC takes all necessary steps in order to ensure the fullest coverage by the different media and the widest possible audience in the world for the Olympic Games

2. All decisions concerning the coverage of the Olympic Games by the media rest within the competence of the IOC. “

Olympic Charter, 2007

• From commissioning the TV services in the 60s to having a single Olympic broadcaster in the 70s and later

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Berlin, 1936

London, 1948

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Athens, 2004

Beijing, 2008

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Olympic Games TV Rights ($) Broadcast Hours

Audience Number of countries televising

1936 Berlin Not paid 136 162,000 N/A 1948 London 1000 64.5 500,000 + 1 1960 Rome 200,000 102 N/A 21 1964 Tokyo 1.5M N/A N/A N/A 1968 Mexico 4.5M 938.5 60M N/A 1972 Munich 7.5M 1266 900M 63 1976 Montreal 34.9M N/A N/A N/A 1980 Moscow 88M N/A N/A 58 1984 Los Angeles 287M 1,300 2,500M 156 1988 Seoul 403M 2,230 10,400M N/A 1992 Barcelona 636M 20,000 16,600M 193 1996 Atlanta 898M 25,000 19,600M 214 2000 Sydney 1,332M 29,600 36,100M 220 2004 Athens 1,493M 35,000 34,400M 220 2008 Beijing 2,500M 47,000 M

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The underdog

• ARPANET– 4 (1962) => 40 (1970) => 376.000 (1991) => 13M (1996)

• Uses: – Commercial exchange, daily management of personal information,

business information management, institutional promotion, journalistic information and entertainment

• Fears: – Internet will lead to the collapse of broadcast – Computers will destroy the mass culture

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Internet users in the world

• Asia - 704 mil• Europe - 402 mil• North America - 251 mil• Latin America/ Caribbean - 175 mil• Africa - 65 mil• Middle East - 47 mil• Oceania/ Australia - 20 mil

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The Olympic Movement Online

• A not-to-be missed opportunity for the Olympic Movement’s information policies

• 1996, Atlanta - the first OCOG website – online Olympic multimedia – TV’s main competitor

• May, 1998 – 70% of the International Olympic Federations and 18% of the National

Olympic Committees were present online having their own website

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“The plurality of contents and the large dimension of the audience reached in Nagano, increased still further in Sydney 2000, present new problems for Olympic communication policy and, more specifically, for its policies regulating rights and cessation of exclusives. The first and main battle will be fought within the Olympic system itself. Especially significant was the competitiveness established between the site of the Sydney 2000 Organising Committee (www.olympics.com) and the web site of NBC (www.NBColympics.com)”

Miguel de Moragas, 1999

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Beijing 2008

• Beijing 2008 - The Hi-Tech Olympics • 221 million Internet users in China

– 15% increase compared to 2007– Surpassed the US before the 2009 projection date – Most active blogospheres (20 million active bloggers)

• 2 media centers – IOC accredited media centre – Beijing International Media Centre (also known as “non-accredited media”

centre)

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What was expected?

• Speed• Dynamism• Novelty • Multiplicity of close-by unique angles • Variety

– video on mobile phones, news alerts on email, RSS on the blogs, 3D and HDTV television and maybe even parallel Olympics in Second Life inspired by the competitions happening in the stadia

• More attempts of information control

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What did we get?

• IOC blogging guidelines for athletes and Olympic family• IOC YouTube deal• multi-media, multi-platform Olympic coverage • Simultaneous online live streams• On-demand online streams• HD full-screen/multiple windows viewing experience• Citizen journalists

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What does this mean for:

• Media – Traditional media– Social media– Mobile media

• Public • Athletes• Advertisers/Sponsors• IOC

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What next?

• Old media are not being replaced or displaced. – Rather, their functions and status are shifted by the introduction of new

technologies.

• More convergence – A further blurring of media genres boundaries

• Separation of new media rights from broadcasting rights• Tighter media rules and brand protection measures

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Thank you!