The Olympic Games are great for business in general, but particularly for the media because they represent one of the few truly global media events. In this context, the popular video-sharing website, YouTube, seems to have scored big. According to reports from Telegraph, YouTube, in a deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) — will be the first website to broadcast limited clips of this summer’s Olympics.
Starting Wednesday, the footage will be streamed to 77 countries where digital rights to the games have not been sold or have been acquired on a non-exclusive basis. Besides, daily clips of the competitions, viewers will be able to watch news and highlight packages, which will last for 17 days. Internet users outside the 77 countries, will be blocked from seeing the clips through geo-blocking, a technology used to prevent access to web sites from visitors in particular countries or regions.
Timo Lumme, the IOC’s director of television and marketing services, said: For the first time in Olympic history we will have complete global online coverage.
Through this deal YouTube will be able to sell advertising around the Olympic channel, which is expected to reach approx. 200 million people, and at the same time constantly monitor its site for those attempting to break the IOC rules by uploading illegal, self-filmed content.
The Olympic Games which are usually used to introduce and showcase new technologies, are once again re-affirming the importance of the digital world, where YouTube as the most popular video-sharing website plays a major role.
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