Winter Olympics reaching new fans around the world, says OBS CEO

BEIJING — Countries without a deep winter sports tradition — or none at all — are increasingly tuning in to the Winter Olympics thanks to more digital platforms.

“It’s a trend we started noticing in Sochi, more in PyeongChang and far more here,” said Yiannis Exarchos, CEO of Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), the permanent host broadcast organization created by the IOC. “You have interest at least on the media level from countries that traditionally would not even be watching the Winter Games. Some in Central and Latin America, Arab countries and increasingly also from the African continent.”

While the Summer Olympics boasts 206 countries, there are athletes from only 91 countries in the Winter Olympics.

Exarchos attributed the higher interest level to a wider distribution of signal and wider options on digital channels for people to watch.

He cited Mexican figure skater Donovan Carrillo as one of the stories that has captivated people, much like the Jamaican bobsled team did in 1988 when viewing options were limited. Carrillo finished 22nd Thursday in the men’s singles event.

“It’s a story of a huge fighter,” Exarchos said. “All of the evidence would be against him becoming a figure skater.

“It’s exciting for the Winter Games not to stay with the traditional countries only.”

The Winter Olympics have been broadcast since 1956 with the Cortina Games. That coverage was minuscule compared to today, with Exarchos saying that OBS will be delivering more than 6,000 hours of content. The competition itself accounts for under 1,000 hours, with the rest composed of features, interviews and other storytelling devices.

By comparison, the Tokyo 2020 Games, with many more sports, produced 11,000 hours.

“We want to deliver the most innovative Games ever, despite the limitations of the pandemic,” said Exarchos, noting that the feed is produced with 4K with HDR and a significant amount of content is on 8K.

He said that in Tokyo, OBS tested two or three 5G cameras at the Opening Ceremony. In Beijing, there are more than 20 of those cameras. “That shows the very rapid adoption of new technologies,” Exarchos said.

Like Japan, China is very advanced on the technology front, which allows event coverage to be produced remotely. “We can do a lot of things in our job without needing to be present in the country hosting the Games,” Exarchos said.

U.S. broadcaster NBC made headlines when it decided to have its high-profile commentators work from Connecticut instead of traveling to Beijing.

Exarchos said that physical presence of broadcasters has been reduced by 32 percent compared to PyeongChang four years ago, which boosts the sustainability of the Games and is helps the wallets of the broadcast organizations around the world.

OBS has 4,000 people in Beijing, of which 35 percent are from China. Exarchos said many are a human legacy from the Beijing 2008 Games, while others are young professionals who are the cutting edge of digital technology.

With no spectators — and thus no family and friends — in Beijing for the second Games in a row, remote fan engagement has allowed athletes to talk to the folks back home.

Exarchos said athletes “embraced it and loved it” in Tokyo, where it was only available in some sports due to technical limitations.

“Here we give this opportunity to as many as we can,” said Exarchos, noting that there were 70 on the fourth day of the Games alone.

“These capture some of the most emotional moments of the Games.”

On the Olympic Channel’s digital platforms, Eileen Gu winning the gold for China in Big Air had a huge media impact around the world.

However, with so much to choose from, how do viewers decide what to watch?

Exarchos acknowledged that “the overwhelming offering of content can sometimes be disorienting.”

He also said “over profiling” to try to predict what people want to watch according to what they’ve seen before is “a dangerous thing. To be fed only with things you expect will deprive of some of the nicer things that the internet can offer.”

KEEP READING: