Despite the popularity of the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the US, this did not quite translate to huge amounts of video advertising, according to new figures from eMarketer.
Based on video stream figures released by NBC, eMarketer estimates video ad spending on the NBCOlympics.com site will reach $5.75 million.
That sum represents only 1.1% of this year’s online video ad spending projection of $505 million in the US, said the online research firm.
Even with the Olympics’ popularity, much of the record traffic on NBCOlympics.com was not video viewers. One reason for that discrepancy was that NBCOlympics.com users were forced to download Microsoft Silverlight, the company’s competitor to Adobe Flash, and being asked to download something to access content tends to eliminate part of the audience.
“One might just award NBC’s online presentation of the summer Olympics a bronze medal then,” said David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst.
“As a signifier for future online events, the games set a high bar for the competition – establishing that major sports events, tournaments and professional leagues ought to offer an abundance of video content online, not just snippets.”
A Deloitte report, produced for the recent MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, found that online TV has had little impact on British viewing habits, with only 4% of the UK population considering it “very important” to be able to receive TV via the internet (see Internet TV “Has Had Little Impact On British Viewing Habits”).
A report from JupiterResearch, meanwhile, revealed that 28% of Europeans now regularly watch online video, more than double the rate in 2006 (see More Europeans Watching Online Video).
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