STAMFORD, CT.—Video streaming of major sporting events continues to rack up sizable numbers as the latest figures from NBC Sports attest.

Playmaker Media, the NBC Sports Group division that powers its live streaming, has been responsible for 4.37 billion minutes of live streamed content this year from Super Bowl LII, the Winter Olympics from PyeongChang, South Korea, and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

[Read: NBC Olympics Coverage Included 2.17 Billion Total Streaming Minutes]

“To execute not just one but three major events of this size, scale, quality and stability in such a short duration is unheard of in the digital video delivery landscape,” said Eric Black, SVP and CTO, NBC Sports Digital and Playmaker Media.

NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app made coverage of the Olympic Games and Super Bowl available, while Telemundo.com, the Telemundo Deportes En Vivo app and the NBC Sports app streamed World Cup coverage.

Telemundo delivered nearly 1.96 billion live minutes of World Cup coverage to 15.5 million unique users, who generated 130 million live streams.

The Mexico-Sweden Group Stage finale from Russia peaked at 1.02 million concurrent livestreams – one of two events to ever hit the 1 million mark for NBC Sports.

Viewers live streamed 1.86 billion minutes of Winter Olympics coverage this year, and the average in-game minute audience for the Super Bowl totaled 2.02 million viewers, across multiple apps and websites, the network said.

STAMFORD, CONN.—NBC was billing February as the “Best Feb Ever” in the weeks prior and that title held true for its NBC Sports Digital platform, as the network has announced that it set a record in unique users for the month of February on NBC Sports Digital with 93 million, according to multiplatform data released by comScore. The surge of unique users came as NBC Sports Digital provided coverage for the 2018 Winter Olympics, Super Bowl LII and Premier League coverage.

Yahoo Sports-NBC Sports Network’s 93 million unique users beat out second-place ESPN’s monthly unique users in February by 31 percent, as ESPN generated 71 million unique users during the month.

In NBC Sports Digital’s history, February was the second best month in terms of unique users, only trailing August 2016, when it generated 110 million unique users during its coverage for the 2016 Summer Olympics, NASCAR, the Premier League’s opening weekends and NFL preseason games. This year topped previous high marks in February, including February 2017 (51 million) and the Sochi-led Olympics in February 2014 (64 million).

[NBC Olympics Coverage Included 2.17 Billion Total Streaming Minutes]

Yahoo Sports-NBC Sports Network reportedly delivered 721 million minutes of streamed desktop video throughout February, good enough for the top spot among comScore’s Sports category. That represented a 387 percent increase over February 2017 (148 million minutes).

In addition, NBC-owned Golf Channel Digital was up 24 percent year-over-year for total minutes streamed (27.2 million) in February. All four PGA Tour events during the month recorded their highest live stream minute totals, per NBC. Consumption of Golf Channel Digital content across its website and mobile app were also up 13 percent for page views (87 million) and 5 percent for unique devices (4.2 million) from 2017.

STAMFORD, CONN.—Medals of gold, silver and bronze were handed out to the athletes of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, but now that the games have concluded, NBC Olympics is dubbing its coverage of the games as gold-medal worthy as well.

NBC released a series of results indicating how many people—and how—people watched this year’s Winter Olympics. One such result was the total streamed minutes during the games, which NBC Sports Digital reported to be 2.17 billion, more than triple what they received for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Of that 2.17 billion, a reported 1.85 billion minutes were live streamed, as NBC Sports Digital said it offered live streams of all of the events at the games via NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app; they also live streamed the Opening Ceremony.

Some individual streaming highlights during the games was the single-day Winter Games record for live streaming minutes of 176.3 million on Saturday, Feb. 11. In addition, the U.S.-Canada women’s gold medal hockey game garnered 525,000 unique views for the live stream, more than all NHL, IIHF and college hockey games that have been broadcast on NBC Sports Digital and only trailing four hockey games from the 2014 Olympics.

Overall, NBC Olympics says that its Total Audience Delivery—a calculation of average minute viewing across broadcast, cable and digital—came in at an average of 19.8 million during primetime throughout the games; NBC-only primetime average viewership was 17.8 million, per NBC’s report. NBC’s statistics show these numbers beat the combined average of ABC, CBS and Fox during the Olympics.

However, the 2018 Winter Olympics had the smallest average viewership since the 1998 Winter Olympics, even with the addition of cable and digital numbers. Despite those results, Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Broadcasting and Sports, said that the Winter Olympics proved to be profitable.

[NBCU to Deliver 2,400 Hours of Winter Olympics Coverage]

Additional statistics from NBC’s report include the fact that the Olympics were the top-rated program for all 18 nights it was in primetime; NBCSN had its most-watched month ever with a daily average of 768,000 viewers; the Olympics provided a boost to other NBC programming, including news, “The Tonight Show” and original programming; and the games helped make NBC number one in total viewers at any point during the TV season for the first time since 2001-2002, according to Nielsen.  

LOS ANGELES—The 2018 Winter Olympics is entering its final days, as is NBC Olympics’ broadcast of the games. The two-week-plus production in PyeongChang, South Korea, had many moving parts, which according to NBC was assisted with the use of Xytech Systems’ MediaPulse system. 

The MediaPulse system has been responsible for managing all logistical aspects of moving production staff and support to and from various sporting events during the games. This includes managing workflow, scheduling for crewing assignments, travel, accreditation and timekeeping for the 3,652 members of the production staff. The software platform is capable of real-time updates.

NBC Olympics’ broadcast of the 2018 Winter Olympics will conclude on Feb. 25.

RALEIGH, N.C.—There isn’t a bigger showcase than the Olympics to give viewers a taste of the much anticipated next generation television standard, ATSC 3.0.

A WRAL news broadcast reports on the media bus that is demonstrating Next Gen TV capabilities.

ETRI (The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute), a South Korean government-funded research institution, is showcasing Next-Gen TV by providing ATSC 3.0 receivers onboard a shuttle bus that carries international media throughout the coastal Olympic region. The ATSC 3.0 signal can be received with no cable and allows for the transmission of 4K video, provides immersive sound and object audio and can add interactive features to involve viewers in the broadcast. The bus’ ATSC 3.0 capabilities are allowing writers and reporters to keep up with the games as they travel from location to location.

[Report: South Korea Adopts ATSC 3.0] 

South Koreans are familiar with the technology already, as Korea TV began broadcasting in ATSC 3.0 in 2017. LG has also been selling TV sets with ATSC 3.0 chips in South Korea.

It’s not just in PyeongChang that ATSC 3.0 is being demo-ed. WRAL-TV, which has two news crew at the Games, is among the broadcasters viewing the demonstration aboard the media buses. The Raleigh, N.C.-based station, which began broadcasting ATSC 3.0 in 2016, is planning a demo built around NBC's coverage of the Winter Games. The NAB, NBC Universal, Samsung and LG/Zenith are also participating in the event. The demonstration will take place Monday, Feb. 19, in Raleigh.

In November 2017, the FCC voted to allow the voluntary rollout of ATSC 3.0 and as a result the forecast for consumer devices in the U.S. to receive the new signal is by 2019.

['All' LG 4KTVs in South Korea Soon to Feature ATSC 3.0] 

For a comprehensive list of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see our ATSC3 silo.

PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA—Athletes spend years of training for their moment at the Olympics, making sure to give the opportunity everything they’ve got. It seems that NBC is taking that methodology to heart this year in terms of its coverage of the 2018 Winter Games.

Over the last few months, NBC Olympics has shared its plans for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea; these Winter Games could be one of the biggest Olympics yet in terms of production and coverage plan for the network.

LIVE COVERAGE

The 14-hour time difference between South Korea and the Eastern U.S. will not only allow NBC to air events live and in prime time, but will, for the first time, allow the network to offer live coverage for the entire country, including daytime, primetime and late night programming. This will help prevent the network from being pre-empted by social media sharing results before NBC’s broadcasts.

Read Also: NBC to Broadcast 2018 Winter Olympics Live Across U.S.

NBC’s coverage will officially kick off on Feb. 8, but the Opening Ceremony will not take place until Feb. 9. However, in another first, NBC will offer a live stream for the Opening Ceremony. An edited version will be shown later in prime time.

Hosting the Opening Ceremony for these Winter Games will be the new duo of Mike Tirico and Katie Couric. Tirico is taking over Bob Costas’ long time role as lead Olympic broadcaster. Couric returns to cover the Opening Ceremony after having previously hosted for Sydney, Salt Lake City and Athens.

NBC Olympics is rounding out its broadcasting team with a number of anchors from its NBC Sports Regional Networks. NBC Sports Boston’s Abby Chin and Trenni Kusnierek, NBC Sport Chicago’s Leila Rahami, NBC Sport Washington’s Julie Donaldson and Ahmed Fareed, and NBC Sports Bay Area’s Jim Kozimor will head to PyeongChang to cover specific sports and handle hosting duties for the some of the broadcaster’s additional programming.

‘BEST FEB EVER’

All of this is part of NBC’s planned 2,400 hours of coverage, more than the combined total coverage of the Games in Vancouver and Sochi, and the most for a single Winter Games. The Games will also see record streaming coverage, as NBC plans 1,800 hours of live streaming across NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app.

Read Also: NBCU to Deliver 2,400 Hours of Winter Olympics Coverage

Read Also: NBC Olympics to Live Stream 1,800 Hours of 2018 Winter Games

The coverage of the Olympics is just one part of what NBC has dubbed “The Best Feb Ever.” The network is also broadcasting Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4 between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles and has announced it plans to give a big push for the games during the Big Game.

Read Also: NBC Sports Preps for Super Bowl LII 

That isn’t the only bit of cross promotion for NBC. NBC Olympics has produced a two-part original series that will be streamed by Netflix to help with the lead-up to the games. “Go for the Gold” and “Meet Team USA” profile a number of Olympians, including Shaun White, Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn. The series are now available on the streaming platform and will remain there until Feb. 25.

GOING VIRTUAL

It’s not just the programming that NBC is making new strides with; there will be a number of new ways on how the viewers can watch the Games. NBC Olympics is working with Intel VR to provide 50 hours of live VR coverage to authenticated viewers with Windows Mixed Reality headsets, Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream with compatible iOS and Android devices via the NBC Sports VR app. VR coverage will include the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, alpine skiing, curling, snowboarding, skeleton, figure skating, short track speed skating, ski jumping, ice hockey and snowboard big air. There will also be additional VR highlights daily of sports not covered live.

Read Also: NBC Olympics to Deliver 50 Hours of Winter Olympics VR Coverage

Read Also: NBC Olympics Pushing 4K HDR for Winter Olympics

The Games will also bump up its resolution as NBC Olympics plans to distribute the games in 4K HDR to cable, satellite and telco providers. The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro were offered in 4K, but that coverage was not distributed in HDR. Events planned to be covered in 4K HDR include the Opening Ceremony, hockey, figure skating, short track speed skating, ski jumping and big air. Olympics Broadcasting Services and Japan’s NHK will provide the 4K HDR coverage. NBC Olympics will then distribute the content to U.S. distribution partners, who will make their own decisions on how to make the content available to their customers.

NBC Universal’s parent company Comcast is also getting in on the Winter Olympic frenzy. Comcast has developed a Winter Olympics content hub for its X1 platform. The content hub will be available across all of its X1 set-top boxes and the Stream app for smartphones, tablets and web browsers. Comcast will tie in NBC’s 2,400 hours of coverage to the hub along with customized “virtual” Olympic channels, integration with the X1 Sports app and X1 voice remote, real-time medal counts and provide a select batch of content offered in 4K HDR with Dolby Atmos.

NBC’s coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympics kicks off Feb. 8 and will continue until the Closing Ceremonies Feb. 25.

STAMFORD, CONN.—Broadcasting the Super Bowl on Feb. 4 and the Olympics starting Feb. 8, NBCUniversal is calling next month The Best Feb Ever, according to NBC Sports Group chair Mark Lazarus.

At a press briefing in New York Wednesday, NBCU said that for the first time it will stream the Opening Ceremonies live. An edited version will be shown later in prime time.

The NBCU platforms will feature more live coverage than any previous Winter Games and more than 2,400 hours in all, Lazarus said.

There will be figure skating on 12 of 18 nights and live skiing on 11 of 18 nights.

NBCU’s primetime coverage will be aired live in all timezones for the first time.

Lazarus noted Wednesday morning 's news that North and South Korean had agreed to have their athletes march together during the opening parade of nations. “The Olympics are proving again to be better than politics at bringing the world together,” he said.

NBCU has also created five one-minute spots promoting the Olympics that will air on Super Bowl Sunday. One will air during the pre-game show, another just before kickoff, the third during half time, the fourth just after the final gun and the last during an episode of the hit This Is Us, which will air after the post game show. “This Is Us” will be followed by an episode of the “Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” originating from Minneapolis, where the game is being played.

One of the spots will be previewed each day on the “Today” show in the week leading up to the Super Bowl.

No network has ever had the two huge TV event in the same season. The tight timing will “allow us to market, package and sell the, giving marketers a very unique opportunity.

Lazarus said he expected the Olympics to turn a profit, but he declined to say how much money it would generate.

NBCUniversal will been using all of its assets, employing its Symphony approach, to promote the Olympics for an unprecedented five weeks. In return, “we will use this great event and large audience to promote other properties like ‘This Is Us,’ the ‘Today’ show,the ‘Nightly News,’ the theme parks and Universal pictures,” Lazarus said.

NBC Olympics president Gary Zenkel noted that PyongChang is ready for the games: “The paint is dry. The road is striped. They could host these games today.” 

NBC is ready too, with more than 90 miles of cable strung and studios set up inside and on the roof of the International Broadcast Center.

NBCU will be distributing clips and highlights to a number of digital partners including Snapchat, which will run a show dedicated to four female snowboarders, Vox, Twitter, YouTube, Amazon Echo, Google Home, Musical.ly and Refinery

More than 20 Olympic advertisers have extended their buys to include the Snapchat platform, he said.

Lazarus said NBC’s coverage of Super Bowl LII will include the first ever use of the dual Skycam system, which provides a players’ eye view from the middle of the field, 3D imaging of key players, an all-new graphics package and a new opening song from Carrie Underwood.

The Super Bowl should also generate advertising sales records for a single day, with NBC being the first network to average more than $5 million per 30-second spot for the NFL’s championship game, annually TV’s most watched program.

This story originally appeared on TVT's sister publication B&C. 

STAMFORD, CONN.—NBCU will offer viewers more than 2,400 hours of coverage of the XXIII Olympic Winter Games from Pyeongchang, South Korea –the most ever of a Winter Olympics, the network announced today.

The Games also will be the first time the network has presented primetime live coverage of a Winter Olympics live across all time zones, it said. Coverage will be available on NBC, NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network, NBCOlympics.com and via the NBC Sports app.

The 2,400 hours of coverage from Pyeongchang will exceed the hours of coverage of the Winter Games from Sochi and Vancouver combined, the network said. Across the NBCU platforms, coverage will include: NBC with 176 hours; NBCSN with 369; CNBC with 46; USA Network with 40.5 and NBCOlympics/NBC Sports app with more than 1,800.

The combined 631.5 hours of linear coverage across four networks is the most ever for the Winter Games, NBC said.

Coverage begins Feb. 7, 2018, at 11 p.m. ET on NBCSN with mixed doubles curling. Streaming on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app will begin at 7 .m. ET on Feb. 7 for authenticated viewers, the network said. Primetime coverage begins the next day with live figure skating, qualifying for the men’s and women’s moguls competition and qualifying for the men’s ski jumping competition.

Over the 19 days of coverage (Feb. 7-25) NBCU will average more than 126 hours of coverage per day, about three times as many hours as coverage of the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympics on ABC, the network said.

NBCU also has partnered with the International Olympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic Committee to present 24/7 news coverage Feb. 10-24 on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, the network said. OBS will provide 20 hours of news and highlights, medal ceremony coverage and a daily studio show for the news channel.

STAMFORD, CONN.—NBC Olympics will set an Winter Olympics record of its own at the PyeongChang Games, as the broadcaster has plans to live stream 1,800 hours of content. In addition, this will be the first Winter Olympics to offer live streaming of the NBC broadcast network, including primetime and primetime-plus programming, per NBC Olympics official press release.

Coverage will include live streams of all competition on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app on desktops, mobile devices, tablets and connected TVs for authenticated users; TV simul-stream coverage of five television networks; streaming on connected TVs; and an enhanced viewing experience for selected sports like Alpine skiing and figure skating. There will also be three digital-only programs, live streams of practices and an active news desk providing Olympic updates throughout the day.

Additional streaming elements being offered by NBC Olympics include a temporary pass that allows for users to stream 30 minutes of coverage prior to authentication on the first visit, and five minutes each subsequent day; NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app will feature video-on-demand coverage and programming; all live streams will be closed-caption in English; and, as previously announced, U.S. service members located on U.S. military bases worldwide can watch live streaming coverage.

Live streaming competition coverage begins Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. ET.

The 2018 Winter Olympics take place in PyeongChang, South Korea, from Feb. 9-25.

STAMFORD, CONN.—NBC is starting to put its plan together for its broadcast of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. After an announcement earlier this week that coverage will be available live in all time zones, NBC Olympics has also announced that it is once again partnering with Snap Inc. for special coverage of the Olympic Games.

Using Snap Inc.’s signature service, Snapchat, NBC Olympic will provide daily coverage through the app’s “Our Stories” and “Publisher Stories” features that are available in Snapchat Discover. The “Publisher Stories” will be co-produced with BuzzFeed. This partnership will also include sales packages in the Snap Ad slots in “Our Stories” and “Publishers Stories,” as well as opportunities to purchase national Geofilters and Lenses in the U.S.

The “Our Story” coverage, which will be available to all Snapchat users in the U.S., will include behind-the-scenes and fan moments submitted from users in PyeongChang and curated by Snapchat. NBC Olympics coverage on the app will also include clips, brand marks, logos and other broadcast elements.

“Publisher Stories” from the Games are expected to feature content produced from the BuzzFeed team in PyeongChang. BuzzFee will have access to athletes, as well as provide clips from inside and outside PyeongChang Olympic venues.

Snapchat will make this content available during the entire Olympic Games, as well as during select dates leading up to the Opening Ceremony.

NBC Olympics and Snap had a similar partnership with the 2016 Rio Olympics, which saw a reported 35 million Snapchat users view the content.

The 2018 Olympic Winter Games will take place in PyeongChang, South Korea begins on Feb. 8, 2018.

STAMFORD, CONN.—Whether in New York or Los Angeles, all U.S. viewers will be able to watch Team USA compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, live for the first time. NBC’s full slate of Olympic programming—including daytime, primetime or late night—will be offered live across all time zones.

For the 2018 Games, NBC’s primetime broadcast will begin at 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CT, 6 p.m. MT, and 5 p.m. PT. The primetime broadcast will be followed by local news in all time zones, and then NBC’s “Primetime Plus” program will air, providing continuing live coverage from PyeongChang. NBC broadcaster will replay primetime programming after “Primetime Plus.”

Jim Bell, president of NBC Olympics production and programming, said that this new schedule will be available both through television and online streaming. “That means social media won’t be ahead of the action in any time zone, and as a result, none of our viewers will have to wait for anything,” Bell explained; this has been a potential issue at the last few Olympics.

NBC’s broadcast of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang will begin on Feb. 8, 2018, with Mike Tirico taking over for Bob Costas as the primetime host. The Opening Ceremony for the XXIII Olympic Winter Games will take place on Feb. 9.

STAMFORD, CONN.—The countdown is on for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, with NBCUniversal planning celebratory announcements and coverage across its broadcast and digital platforms.

Set to begin one year from today, Feb. 8, NBCUniversal is ushering in the 2018 Winter Olympics with a consumer engagement “road-block” that consists of a 60-second promo narrated by “This is Us” actor Milo Ventimiglia. NBC will air the promo across its broadcast and cable networks, its websites, and social media.

In addition, NBC Sports Group will have exclusive coverage across its broadcast, digital and social media platforms. This will include stories on Winter Olympic athletes, pictures, graphics and airing of the “road-block.”

NBC News will also contribute some special reports, including interviews with Winter Olympic athletes and reports from PyeongChang.

The XXIII Winter Olympics in PyeongChang will take place from Feb. 8-25.