FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, February 7th, 2014

ROAD MAP TO NBC OLYMPICS’ DIGITAL COVERAGE OF 2014 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES

NBCOlympics.com and NBC Olympics Live Extra app to Live Stream 1,000+ Hours of Olympic Competition

NBC Olympics Highlights and Results App to Provide Comprehensive Results to On-The-Go Fans

Exclusive Digital-Only Programs: Gold Zone, Olympic Ice and Olympic News Desk

Robust Social Media Coverage of XXII Olympic Winter Games Begins Today

STAMFORD, Conn. – Feb. 7, 2014 – NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group, is offering U.S. Olympic fans unprecedented digital and social media coverage of the XXII Olympic Winter Games from Sochi, Russia, with more than 1,000 hours of live streaming coverage, up-to-the-minute information via two mobile/tablet apps, exclusive digital-only programming, and a robust presence across a plethora of social media platforms.

Following is a road map to NBC Olympics’ digital and social media coverage:

NBCOLYMPICS.COM

NBCOlympics.com, America’s preeminent digital destination for Olympic content and exclusive online home of Olympic video coverage, is live streaming all competition. In all, the site will live stream more than 1,000 hours of coverage of the Games, and deliver unprecedented digital-only original programming, the vast majority for verified cable, satellite & telco customers. By comparison, NBCOlympics.com live streamed 400 hours of live competition during the 2010 Vancouver Games.

NBCOlympics.com is the digital home for the latest news, up-to-the-minute TV listings, event results and medal standings throughout the Games, and hosts video highlights, replays and feature stories. In addition, NBCOlympics.com also hosts a “Team USA” section, providing content focused on American athletes and teams as they compete for gold.

NBCOlympics.com has undergone a complete refresh following the 2012 London Games, which includes a ‘must-see bar’ on the left-hand side of the home page, helping viewers stay up-to-date on can’t-miss moments of the Olympic games during the 18 days of competition.

APPS

NBC Olympics is providing two apps – an updated NBC Sports Live Extra app, and a new NBC Olympics Highlights and Results app – to provide on-the-go users with a state-of-the-art experience, enabling them to get inside the Sochi Games with unprecedented access to information right at their fingertips.

NBC SPORTS LIVE EXTRA

For the first time ever, the NBC Sports Live Extra app will live stream every Winter Olympics competition. In all, the app will live stream more than 1,000 total programming hours, including all 15 sports, the awarding of all 98 medal events and exclusive event rewinds. NBC Sports Live Extra will also live stream the Olympic content that airs on NBC and the four NBCU cable channels carrying coverage of the Sochi Games — NBCSN, MSNBC, CNBC and USA Network. The app will also feature full event replays, exclusive highlights, events schedules, TV listings, and customizable event alerts.

Enabled by Adobe Primetime, NBC Sports Live Extra will provide multiple concurrent streams for select sports, such as skiing (each discipline), snowboarding (each discipline), and hockey (both arenas). For example, during a session of skiing, instead of viewing only a single feed that moves from event to event, a user can choose to watch a stream dedicated to a specific discipline, such as the long jump or half pipe.

The vast majority of live stream content on NBC Sports Live Extra will only be available to verified cable, satellite or telco customers. In order to access the live stream content, existing cable, satellite and telco customers should follow these verification procedures (note: customers must subscribe to a TV package that includes specific NBCU networks dependent on their cable provider):

  1. Download the NBC Sports Live Extra app
  2. Open the app
  3. Tap on a live stream
  4. Select your cable, satellite or telco provider
  5. Enter the username and password that corresponds with your account
  6. Upon verification of your subscription to an Olympics-eligible package, you will be signed in throughout the Games on that device.

Customers with multiple devices should repeat the procedure on each device. Access to this content is free for customers as part of their video subscription — there is no additional charge. For customers who do not have a username and password, they should contact their cable, satellite or telco provider to create one. More information about the process, including contact information for cable, satellite and telco providers, can be found at http://www.nbcolympics.com/liveextra/help.

In addition, customers can access digital-only original programming, including Gold Zone and Olympic Ice. (see below)

NBC OLYMPICS HIGHLIGHTS AND RESULTS

While the NBC Sports Live Extra app serves as the mobile and tablet home for live stream content, the NBC Olympics Highlights and Results app is the home for everything else Olympics. The NBC Olympics Highlights and Results app is the exclusive home for NBC Olympics’ award-winning coverage, including short-form highlights, television and streaming schedules, and NBCOlympics.com columns. The NBC Olympics Highlights and Results app provides real-time official event results, medal winners, interesting facts, team rosters and bios on Team USA Olympians for the most comprehensive coverage of the Sochi Games.

The NBC Olympics Highlights and Results app is the ultimate second-screen experience for NBC’s nightly primetime Olympic broadcast. Users can immerse themselves in the Winter Olympics viewing experience with trivia, polls, slideshows, videos and athlete bios all synced with what is being presented on NBC.

As a complement to the NBC Sports Live Extra and NBC Olympics Highlights and Results apps, a third app, the NBC Sports Talk app, is home to all of NBC Olympics blog coverage. The NBC Sports Talk app features multiple sport and category specific blogs, including Olympics Talk and ProHockeyTalk.

ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING

NBC Olympics digital only-programming will include Gold Zone, whip-around competition coverage from live action in Sochi; Olympic Ice, a daily figure skating news and highlights show; and regular news updates throughout each day of competition via NBCOlympics.com’s Olympic News Desk updates.

GOLD ZONE

Beginning on February 8, Gold Zone, an exclusive video channel on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports Live Extra app, will offer more than 100 hours of whip-around coverage of the most popular live action from the Sochi Games. The channel, which streams 7 a.m.-3 p.m. ET on most days, will allow viewers to experience multiple events, as they happen.

Gold Zone may take viewers from a freestyle skiing final to an ice hockey shootout, in real time, enabling them to catch the most exciting Olympic action whenever and wherever it’s happening.

Gold Zone hosts Andrew Siciliano and Ryan Burr will provide context to what’s being streamed, and will keep fans up-to-date as the action switches from event to event.

To get to-to-the-minute updates on what is being featured on Gold Zone, fans can follow the dedicated twitter handle @NBC_GoldZone.

OLYMPIC ICE

Olympic Ice, a studio show available on NBCOlympics.com and NBC Sports Live Extra, will offer a comprehensive review of all the figure skating news and highlights taking place each day during the Sochi Games. It will air at 5:30 p.m. ET on most days, beginning tomorrow, February 7 – and concluding on February 21.

Russ Thaler will host the 30-minute show, and will be joined by analyst and 2002 Olympic gold medal-winning figure skater Sarah Hughes.

 

OLYMPIC NEWS DESK UPDATES

Hosted by Julie Donaldson, Olympic News Desk updates areavailable periodically throughout the day on NBCOlympics.com, and feature the most up-to-date news, competition and highlights, from the day’s events in Sochi.

YAHOO

NBC Olympics and Yahoo have extended their existing digital alliance to include content and promotion surrounding the XXII Olympic Winter Games from Sochi, Russia. The alliance focuses on access for Yahoo’s audience in the United States to all of NBC Olympics’ exclusive digital video highlights and live streamed events on NBCOlympics.com, the creation of a digital Olympics daily show, and the showcase of various Yahoo products through the lens of NBC’s coverage of the Games.

For more information, click here: http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2013/12/16/nbc-olympics-and-yahoo-extend-digital-alliance-with-content-and-promotion-for-2014-olympic-winter-games/

FACEBOOK

Facebook, Inc., including Instagram, and NBC Olympics have joined together to serve fans of the Olympics like never before. The symbiotic collaboration builds on the relationship the two companies enjoyed during the 2012 London Olympics, which was the most-watched event in U.S. television history.

 

As part of the agreement, the two companies will leverage the broadcast and unique NBC Olympics content on Facebook to drive conversation about the Sochi Games and NBC’s coverage across the world’s largest social media platform. For the first time, NBC Olympics will premiere feature video content on Facebook, including the story of how J.R. Celski, America’s top short track speed skater, came to know Grammy Award-winning rapper Macklemore. The post that debuted last month has been seen by over 6.5 million people on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152196044660329&set=vb.318682000328&type=2&theater

Fans who visit the NBC Olympics Page on Facebook will also have the opportunity to ask questions directly to NBC Olympics commentator and Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hughes during NBC’s primetime coverage of 11 nights of figure skating performances.

Olympic gold medalist and NBC Olympics analyst Lindsey Vonn will chat live on Facebook with fans during the fortnight. The NBC Olympics page on Facebook features the most up-to-date news, information and videos, and engages fans with featured polls, photo galleries, trivia and shareable images.

For more information, click here: http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2014/01/16/nbc-olympics-and-facebook-to-collaborate-on-2014-sochi-olympics/

TWITTER

NBC Olympics and Twitter are collaborating to magnify the Olympic conversation on Twitter and encourage tune-in to NBCUniversal’s multi-platform coverage of the Games, the two companies announced on Wednesday.

As part of the agreement, Twitter will incorporate NBC Olympics’ content into the center of its Olympic dialogue throughout the Games. The first iteration of such content occurred Tuesday when @NBCOlympics debuted its feature on South Korean figure skating gold medalist Yuna Kim (@Yunaaaa) on Twitter. The piece is narrated by Ryan Seacrest (@RyanSeacrest). Twitter will also populate its Sochi Olympics event page with @NBCOlympics most compelling Tweets.

@NBCOlympics and Twitter will notify fans with relevant content for those who clamor for more information about their favorite athletes and teams. In addition, compelling data compiled by Twitter about the Olympic social media buzz will be used by NBC throughout the Games within its NBC Olympics’ multi-platform editorial coverage, including in primetime.

For more information, click here: http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2014/02/05/nbc-olympics-and-twitter-collaborate-on-2014-sochi-olympics/

SOCIAL MEDIA

NBC Olympics is offering U.S. viewers robust coverage of the 2014 Sochi Olympics via a myriad of social media initiatives, including social media segments during NBC’s coverage, as well as news and information updates on seven different social media platforms.

For the second Olympic Games in a row, NBC Olympics has partnered with Facebook and Twitter to extend its coverage onto the popular social media platforms. The social media partnerships once again allow the NBC Sports Group to communicate directly with fans of the Olympics and celebrate the Games with viewers in new and unique ways.

In addition, through NBC Olympics partnership with Yahoo, content from both Tumblr and Flickr are providing a different perspective of the Olympics and allow users of those platforms to engage, speak about and cover the Olympics in original ways. Up-to-date information, videos, photos, athlete interviews and news about the Games will also be shared on Instagram, Vine and Google+.

In concert with the social media partnerships established for the Sochi Olympics, NBC Olympics social media staff in both the U.S. and Russia are providing ‘round the clock coverage of news and results.

Following is a summary:

SOCIAL MEDIA SEGMENTS

Apolo Ohno, the most-decorated Winter Olympian in U.S. history, will host regular social media segments on television. The segments will shine a light on what athletes, celebrities and fans of the Olympics are talking about on social media during the Games, and will feature tweets, photos, video, data and Sochi Olympics moments the world is sharing on Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms.

The primetime segments will be produced by NBC Olympics editorial unit, in collaboration with representatives from Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and other social media platforms.

INSTAGRAM

For the second Games in a row, the NBC Olympics Instagram page gives users a look inside the NBC Olympics experience from the Opening Ceremony through the end of the Games. Throughout the Games, Instagram and NBC Olympics will create hashtag campaigns with different themes to have users submit their own photos which will be featured on the account. Celebrity, athlete and fan photos will also be included in NBC Olympics on-air coverage of the Games. NBC Olympics talent, such as Apolo Ohno, Johnny Weir, Tara Lipinski and Nastia Liukin will be featured in Instagram videos that highlight what to watch in primetime, and give fans more behind-the-scenes access in Sochi.

TUMBLR

NBC Olympics on Tumblr will pay tribute to all Olympics Fans. The Tumblr page will be dedicated to the fan and the Olympic spirit by curating visually stunning Olympic themed or inspired content. For on-air integration, NBC Olympics will surface the best Sochi Games content from this creative social outlet.

GOOGLE+

NBC Olympics is taking over the NBC Sports Google+ page that is in over 2.7 million circles. Fans on Google+ are now able to get the most up to date news, information and photos surround the Sochi Olympics.

POPTIP

NBC Olympics will be leveraging Poptip real-time social surveys during the Olympics on the @NBCOlympics Twitter handle and NBC Olympics Facebook page to understand real-time fan opinions and reactions during the Games. Poptip is an information discovery and modern market research platform that helps companies analyze and act on social conversation and crowd opinion.

By using Poptip to ask questions to the crowd, NBC Olympics will understand the fans’ opinions instantly and empower them to voice their opinions for incorporation into content around the Games. NBC Olympics will also be using the Poptip API to integrate these real-time crowd opinions on-air, broadening the audience beyond their direct social media fans and using crowd opinion to incorporate into on-air segments.

GETGLUE

GetGlue has developed a variety of NBC Olympics stickers for fans to collect on GetGlue throughout the Games. Fans have the ability to collect stickers around the Opening Ceremony, various Olympic events and earn Gold, Silver and Bronze stickers for being the most active while checking in on GetGlue.

FLICKR

As part of the Yahoo collaboration, NBC Olympics is tapping into Flickr to help discover images around the Olympics as seen through the eyes of photography on Flickr. Flickr imagery will be used in social media segments on-air.

MEMBERS OF NBC OLYMPICS TEAM ON SOCIAL MEDIA

In addition to the seven NBC Olympics branded social media accounts, more than 60 NBC Olympics hosts, analysts, play-by-play commentators, reporters, researchers and producers are sharing Sochi Olympics content via their personal social media accounts. For a list of those names and accounts click here: http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2014/01/05/2014-sochi-olympic-media-guide-nbc-olympics-on-social-media/

–NBC OLYMPICS–