Moving Ads from TV to PCs

Olympics Advertisers Tested Potential of Computer and Phone Video

Aug 12, 2008

Here's how advertisers experimented with website promotions to communicate with millions of 2008 Olympic fans.

Hoping to communicate with the 18-to-26 year old viewers who dominate the market, advertisers are rapidly moving their video commercials from television to computers. There appears to be a less rapid movement to mobile phones.

With more than a billion people awaiting the games, the 2008 Olympics in Beijing were expected to test the potential of personal computers, laptops and mobile phones to carry both video programming and commercials. It would take some time to evaluate the final numbers because the games attracted a worldwide audience that would be measured in hundreds of millions.

The coverage figures for mobile phones will get special attention because the Olympics were a major test for them. According to eMarketer, the phones had not been living up to the pre-Olympic expectations some advertisers had for their use.

Facebook, MySpace Also Watched

Facebook, MySpace and other social-networking websites were also being watched to see how many 18-to-26 year olds they could reach.

The pre-Olympic expectations were hyped by such statistics as these from Nielsen Ratings and eMarketer:

TNS Media Says 5% May Have Watched Olympics on PC or Mobile Phone

Dean DeBiase, CEO of TNS Media, lifted expectations even higher when he told USA Today that up to 5 percent of all viewers would get their 2008 Olympic coverage through personal computers or mobile phones. He said it would be the first time a large segment of viewers received their Olympic coverage that way.

The final Beijing Olympics coverage results will force advertisers to make decisions not only on a wider selection of media, but also on how to capitalize on the use of video, websites, social networks and even blogging. Website Consultant Jakob Nielsen has warned there are major differences in the way viewers watch TV and online video.

NBC launched the great experiment by announcing that in addition to its extensive network coverage of the games, it would broadcast a record 2200 hours of competition on NBCOlympics.com.

Emphasis on Audience Participation

Other major advertisers joined the experiment with new approaches for the Olympics, putting major emphasis on audience participation. According to USA Today:

--The Lenovo computer company drew 6,000 entries in an essay contest about original ideas for carrying the Olympic torch. It then produced 30-second videos on the three top ideas, posted them on its website and encouraged viewers to vote on the best.

--Coco Cola invited visitors to mycoke.com to design new coke bottles. More than 60,000 bottles were designed.

--Johnson and Johnson produced videos featuring six Olympians giving thanks to their moms and made them available on youtube.com/baby.

--GE encouraged its employees to send messages to athletes in China on a new company Intranet. It posted the messages on its building at the Olympics.

--Bank of America worked with Facebook, YouTube and Flickr to allow fans to post text, audio and video cheers for American athletes on cheer.com.

Beijing Blogging

Lenova also provided cameras and computers to more than 100 Olympians and urged them to put their video online at lenova.com. Bank of America did the same thing, providing cameras to the 12 athletes it endorsed.

Beijing blogging also played a major role in carrying both Olympics coverage and commercials. Some firms sponsored blogging reports from Beijing.

Decades from now, the 2008 Olympics may be looked upon as the dawn of a new era for advertisers trying to capitalize on special events with new digital toys.

The copyright of the article Moving Ads from TV to PCs in Web Advertising is owned by Carroll Trosclair. Permission to republish Moving Ads from TV to PCs in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.