Sochi the Most-Viewed Winter Olympics Ever

More fans watched Sochi 2014 on television than any other Winter Olympics—and they’re increasingly doing so on devices other than T.V.s.

In an exclusive interview with Around the Rings, Olympic Broadcasting Services CEO Yiannis Exarchos talks about the changing landscape of Olympic broadcast coverage.

He also has a tip for broadcasters during a great sporting moment: "shut up."

Sochi 2014 is the first for Exarchos as OBS CEO after succeeding legendary company founder Manolo Romero last year. Exarchos led a team of 3,300 people from 72 countries during the Games.

His interview with ATRassignment editor Ed Hula III is posted below. It has been edited for length.

Around the Rings: How have things been going here overall?

Yiannis Exarchos: Overall, the broadcasting for the Games has been a very big success. First of all, the fundamentals: competition has been at a very high level, I believe the broadcasters are happy with the images they have received, but the most important thing is that the spectators are happy.

Ratings consistently across the world show that this is by far the most-viewed Olympic Games ever, and the reach of these Winter Games is unprecedented. We have broadcasted an estimated eighty thousand hours globally.

With the launch by OBS of the Olympic Video Player, we have enabled direct broadcasting to territories that the Winter Games have never been before. Truly, with over 200 countries reached, these are the first universal Winter Olympics.

The new events seem to be touching exactly what all of us wanted and are attracting new audiences.

These games have been interesting for us because this is a winter resort in the making, especially for mountain sports. Part of the challenge and part of the beauty is that we discovered the place as it was being created, and that made our coverage a little bit more adventurous and a little bit more creative, because we didn’t have preconceived ideas about how things would be covered.

We ended up using twice as many specialty cameras as we used in Vancouver [2010 Winter Games], and we extensively used slow-mo cameras here. They were very revelatory, because they show very fast sports to the average viewer. We also tested for the first time, some production technology that we might use in the future, such as the use of drones and helicopters.

ATR: There’s an increased use of mobile devices as the "first screen" for Olympic viewers. Has that changed how OBS works?

YE: Absolutely, and I think this is the fundamental thing that’s happening and that we must address. As I said before, OBS introduced in Sochi a white-label solution for broadcasting on mobile devices and on PCs: the Olympic Video Player. The beauty is that, being white label, it can be branded by different broadcasters around the world. Why should they use a shared platform? Because to create such a sophisticated solution for two or three weeks only, it’s a very big investment. Some big broadcasters may be able to afford it, but most low-level broadcasters cannot. I think this is where things are taking us.

Even though for an event as universal as the Olympic Games, you cannot ignore traditional broadcasting. It will remain at the heart of what we do.

ATR: It seems that in Sochi there’s been an increased shift to nighttime events. Is that true? How is that impacting OBS?

YE: Sochi is placed quite uniquely geographically. In order to achieve attractive programming from broadcasters around the globe, the scheduling had to be dispersed across 24 hours, and we ended up with many nightly events. I think this has helped to a certain extent. It was nice for television, but it was a nice experience for spectators. It’s something that’s changing, and I think we’ll see it more in future Olympic Games, be it summer or winter.

ATR: What have been some of the other challenges in Sochi?

YE: We practically had to transport everything and everybody from other parts of Russia or other parts of the world. Just to give you an example, one of the main components of our operation is a training project we do with local universities. We had no universities to use, so we had tostage all these programs in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and transfer and accommodate these people to Sochi. I’d say the major challenge was a lack of local resources.

ATR: How much equipment is here for OBS?

I don’t remember the exact volume, but to give you an idea, the volume of equipment we have here is pretty close to the amount of equipment we had for the games in Sydney. It’s interesting to understand that the total volume of services that we provide to broadcasters have increased by 70% since Vancouver. That’s the exact same amount we provided to Beijing.

The main effort has been to maintain the broadcast footprint at the size of Vancouver, so the spaces we’re using in the facilities is exactly the same, if not smaller, by introducing new services that allow broadcasters to do more in their home countries.

One example is our multi-channel distribution system. We put on satellites around the globe seven channels that they can pick up anywhere around the world. Most broadcasters receive their signals through this system, so they have to bring less equipment and less personnel, but they can have more broadcasting.

ATR: Are you worried that if you allow too much of that remote production it will lessen the drama and excitement from broadcasters?

YE: This is nowhere near our concern at this stage. Even though we made all that, we had 11,000 broadcasters at these Games. We had 22,000 at the London Games. It is unsustainable to have more than that inthe cities. We have an increase in the number of rights-holding broadcasters. With the new distribution platforms, we have an increase of their needs. The pressure is clearly towards the other side – they’dlike to bring more and more here, but we need to control the size of the Games.

ATR: You mentioned new technologies, such as the use of drones. Does OBS want to show off its capabilities?

YE: I hope not. The Olympic Games is a stage of excellence for athletes and this is what drives our ambition – to do justice to the best athletes of the world. Of course, we want to do better, but it’s not exactly a tendency of showing off. It’s a concern to do justice to the Games.

ATR: What sort of direction do you think Thomas Bach has for the OBS and broadcasting the Olympics?

YE: First of all, President Bach has a very intimate knowledge of broadcasting. From the first minutes when he took over, he made it clear that he understands the importance of broadcasting and the work of OBS. I can say he’s added to our plate many new responsibilities, which is welcome. I believe the next few years will be incredibly interesting and flourishing, for both sports and broadcasting.

ATR: Do you want to see an Olympic channel?

YE: Yes, I do. I want to be persuaded that this is a sustainable proposal. You have this incredible exposure every four years, for all Olympic sports and the Olympic Movement, which recedes dramatically in the periods in between.

There’s no doubt that the popularity of the Olympics is due to the schedule, but I do think there’s a place for an Olympic channel to sustain interest in the Olympic movement.

I do not necessarily think the Olympic channel should be just a sports channel. The Olympics are a movement that goes beyond sports and this is why it’s so relevant to the people around the world. The Olympics break down barriers and set a stage of excellence, and this is the narrative that’s worth being created more permanently.

ATR: How do you continue to innovate? Sometimes games are only 18 months apart, but you have to find something new. How do you do that?

YE: I think that what fundamentally helps us is a fear of repetition. We have, with OBS, the luxury of having people on board who’ve done more than eight Olympic Games. We are very experienced, which means they want to do this in new, different ways.

ATR: Is there anything you’ve done in Sochi that you wish you did differently?

YE: there probably should have been more advance promotional material to broadcasters. Sochi itself is a big unknown. It helps the games now because the world discovered Sochi, but it would have helped if both us and the organizing committee had provided a visual representation of the place.

ATR: Have you had a favorite broadcasting moment in these games so far?

YE: There are a few. First of all, parts of the ceremony, I love the way the parade of nations was organized and I think it paid off. I think also the moment with Ole Einar Bjoerndalen was moving on every possible level. There is one point where you see an athlete and you want to shut up because his presence is so overwhelming. That wasn’t the most spectacular moment, but it was what the Olympics are about.

Written by Ed Hula III.

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