Last year’s Tokyo Olympics have been described as the first “streaming Games” after becoming the most-watched Games on digital platforms.

Timo Lumme, managing director, IOC Television and Marketing Services, said: “Beijing 2008 was perhaps the first digital Games, London 2012 was the first social media Games, and Tokyo 2020 is the first streaming Olympic Games.”

While TV remained the dominant platform, with 21.3 billion hours of Tokyo 2020 coverage consumed via TV, last summer’s event saw an upsurge of 74 per cent in digital unique viewers compared to Rio 26, reveals the IOC’s Marketing Report Tokyo 2020.

Video views on digital platforms rose by 139% compared to the previous Summer Olympics. The report suggests 3.05 billion people watched the Games, with 23 billon hours of content consumed via both TV and digital platforms.

Tokyo 2020 was the first Games to be fully produced natively in Ultra High Definition High Dynamic Range. Olympic Broadcasting Services produced 3,300 hours of UHD/HDR coverage, and 10,200 hours of content in total.

In the U.S. more than 120 billion minutes of content was consumed across all NBCU platforms (TV, digital and social). With nearly 6 billion streaming minutes across digital and social media, Tokyo 2020 was NBC Sports' Digital's most streamed Olympic games ever. Streaming platform Peacock, featuring Olympics coverage for the first time, recorded its best two weeks of usage the IOC said. 

In Europe, 1.3 billion minutes of content were consumed across Discovery’s digital platforms, with over 175 million viewing the broadcaster’s coverage on TV and digital—13 times more than PyeongChang 2018.

The BBC broadcast more hours of coverage than ever before, with a total of 36.4 million viewers for its content. Across its digital platforms, including BBC iPlayer, the Corporation reported a record-breaking 104 million requests.

In France, viewers spent an average of 7.53 hours each watching the Games.

The full IOC Marketing Report Tokyo 2020 is available here.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—TVU Networks is offering rights-cleared access to live external video feeds from various locations around Tokyo beyond the conclusion of the Summer Games, the company said today.

The beauty shots are available on a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week basis and are part of the company’s on-site support effort during the event, it said.

Professional camera feeds from Tokyo, including from TVU’s local Japanese partners, are showcasing various scenes, landmarks and locations, including Japan National Stadium and Athlete Village.

TVU Networks will offer the live feeds through the conclusion of the Paralympic Games, which follow the Summer Games, and end Sept. 5, it said.

News organizations can use the fixed shots for bumpers, live introductions and other interstitial content for broadcast, the web and social media posts.

The feeds are available through TVU MediaSource, the company’s cloud-based market for real-time access to video content from trusted media organizations, TVU Networks said.

The company also announced it has an extensive inventory of TVU One mobile transmitters for rent in Tokyo during the games. Additionally, it is making available its TVU Remote Production System, a multi-camera REMI production system. Professional ENG camera crews are also available to cover the games.

Broadcasters can access the TVU Anywhere app, which allows full HD live transmission of video from iOS or Android smartphones. Other cloud-based rental options include TVU Producer for live multi-camera video production in the cloud with no latency, as well as TVU Grid for scalable point-to-multipoint live video distribution and the TVU Partyline broadcast-quality live production collaboration platform, it said.

TVU also has studio space in downtown Tokyo available to rent. Studios are equipped with TVU Grid for broadcast-quality video transmission, the company said.

With every studio rental, live video capture will be automatically recorded and indexed via TVU MediaMind’s AI-based technology. Video can be searched in real time, and clips can be downloaded for free for 30 days, it said.

For more information or to request live feeds, rental and services visit the company’s website. 

STAMFORD, Conn.—NBC Olympics is ramping up its planned programming for the Tokyo games, announcing a new partnership with livestreaming service Twitch to produce and deliver live content that will be available through a unique NBC Olympics Twitch channel leading up to and during the Olympics.

The planned programing will include highlight studio shows, pre-Olympics activations, athlete interviews and Olympic-themed gaming competitions, all geared toward the Twitch community.

Olympic coverage on Twitch will start a week before the games begin with an interactive program to keep the Olympic torch “alive” by collecting items and participating in chats so as to ultimately light the cauldron on the day of the Opening Ceremony.

Also pre-Opening Ceremony, the NBC Olympics Twitch channel will feature Olympic-themed segments from top creators, all taking place in a virtual setting.

During the games, the NBC Olympics Channel will feature a daily interactive clip show showing the best highlights of the day with polls, live AMAs and games included. There will also be a daily competition where teams of Twitch creators try to accrue medals throughout the Olympics’ two weeks. Also, Twitch will offer live commentary as a companion to NBC’s primetime broadcast and a Live from Tokyo segment will provide athlete interviews and Q&As.

“The way that people consume traditional sporting events is changing. They no longer want to simply spectate; they want to be as close to the action and athletes as possible,” said Michael Aragon, chief content officer at Twitch. “The Olympics present an opportunity for a global fan base to embrace this new world of live and interactive sports. We are thrilled to partner with NBC to give fans in the United States an intimate, front row seat to this iconic sporting event and connect American athletes and fans in a way that can only happen on Twitch.”

The 2021 Toyko Olympics will take place from July 23-Aug. 8.

TOKYO—Don’t light the Olympic torch just yet, the postponed Tokyo Summer Olympics could still be cancelled because of the ongoing threats of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is according to a senior Japanese ruling party official.

A Reuters report has shared comments that Toshihiro Nikai, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, made to Japanese broadcaster TBS:

“If it seems impossible (to host the Olympics) any more, then we have to stop it, decisively.”

He added that cancellation was an option, particularly if the two-week sporting event could increase the danger of spreading the COVID-19 virus. He also later clarified that we wanted the Olympics and Paralympics to succeed in Tokyo, but that it shouldn’t be “no matter what.”

The Tokyo Olympics Organizing Committee issued its own statement saying that they are remaining focused in preparing to host the Games, which are scheduled to begin on July 23.

Reuters reports that Japan is in the midst of a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections, and that many Japanese citizens would prefer to see the Olympics cancelled.

Broadcasters have been preparing for a socially distant Olympics, with major international broadcasters sharing their plans to increase their remote operations for the Games.

In the original decision to postpone the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in March last year, the International Olympic Committee said that the rescheduled Games must not occur later than 2021. Meaning if the Tokyo Olympics were to be cancelled, they would likely not be rescheduled a second time. 

The rescheduled Tokyo Olympics are just about four months away, and while COVID-19 vaccines are being rolled out across the world, the pandemic is still going to have an effect on how the games are produced and brought to viewers.

In a roundtable discussion with NBC, Canada’s CBC and Germany’s ZDF and ARD, broadcasters revealed how their plans have changed as a result of the year-long delay and ongoing pandemic. The main takeaway, like so many other major productions, is a shift to remote workflows.

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Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics, says that the planned programming for NBC’s coverage of the Tokyo games is not going to be noticeably different than what it would have been had the Olympics gone on as normal in 2020. However, behind the scenes, more production will be done from the U.S. than would have occurred in 2020.

“We’re probably moving home about 10% of the workforce who would have been in Tokyo,” said Zenkel. “And there is a corresponding increase back home.”

NBC will still have commentators and editorial crews on-site to provide the usual venue presence and coverage on the athletes and the host city.

Similarly, the CBC and Germany’s broadcasters are also hosting more of their productions from their home bases. CBC estimates that it will have about 130 people in Tokyo for the games, down by about 250 from what it has had at recent Olympics. Germany, for the first time, will have the majority of its production take place remotely.

All of these countries have experience with remote production elements during the Olympics, but these games will be the largest effort to date.

NBC’s Zenkel admitted that they previously thought there would be a barrier with having the production crew separated from the venues and being immersed among the athletes, coaches and fans; what he believed were crucial elements of its presentations.

“[B]ut what I think we’ve discovered, because we were required to, is that the presentation remains very, very compelling,” he said. “We’ve overcome the fear. Then, there’s been some clear advancements in the process and the technology that’s been utilized to make this work.”

Beyond the 2021 version of the Olympics, when the pandemic is no longer an issue, all of the participants believe that there will be increased remote production elements for future games, but that there will always be a certain level of production on-site at the Olympics.

The full interview is available through www.olympic.org.  

STAMFORD, Conn.—For the first time as the broadcast home of the Olympics, NBC has announced that it will air the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics during a live morning broadcast. The Opening Ceremony, taking place on July 23, will be part of daylong network coverage of the first Friday of the Games.

The Opening Ceremony will begin at 8 p.m. in Tokyo, which equates to 7 a.m. ET. NBC will begin its coverage of the events at 6:55 a.m. ET and live across all time zones.

NBC will follow up its coverage of the Opening Ceremony with a special two-hour episode of “Today” that will react to the ceremony and feature athlete interviews. “Today” will be followed by NBC’s new Olympic daytime show. NBC will conclude the day with a primetime Opening Ceremony presentation and then an overnight replay.

“Following the unprecedented challenges presented by the global pandemic, the world will come together in Tokyo for what could be the most meaningful and anticipated Opening Ceremony ever,” Pete Bevacqua, chairman, NBC Sports Group, said in a press release. “Given the magnitude of this event, we want to provide viewers with as many ways to connect to it as possible, live or in primetime.”

Here is the official rundown of NBC’s opening day coverage of the Tokyo Olympics for July 23:

• 6:55-11 a.m. ET - Live Opening Ceremony Coverage 
• 11 a.m.-1 p.m. - Special Edition of "Today"
• 1-4 p.m. - Tokyo Olympics Daytime 
• 7:30 p.m.-12 a.m. - Primetime Opening Ceremony
• 12:35-5 a.m. - Overnight Replay of Opening Ceremony 

NBC’s multiplatform Olympic coverage will actually begin on July 21, with preliminary soccer and softball games.

There have been reports questioning whether or not the Olympics will take place this year or if they will be cancelled as a result of lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of this time,  the International Olympic Committee or the Japanese government plan to go ahead with the games.

STAMFORD, Conn.—NBC Olympics and Twitter are still set to have their Olympic moment together, as the two sides have announced an extension of their content partnership that was originally announced for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The original deal was announced in July 2019 solely for the Tokyo Summer Olympics. This new deal, which mirrors the previous one, now covers the postponed Tokyo games slated for 2021 and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

As part of the partnership, NBC Olympics and Twitter will create daily, original programming on Twitter live from the host cities; a daily poll that will have fans vote on what sport they want NBC to provide a live look-in on NBC Primetime or Primetime Plus broadcasts each night; and real-time video highlights. There will also be content starting in June 2021 that will lead up to the start of the Tokyo games on July 23, 2021, including highlights from the U.S. Olympic Team Trials; a similar countdown will take place for the 2022 Beijing games.

“Extending our now multi-Games relationship with Twitter to Tokyo for the Summer Games in 2021 and Winter Games in 2022 from Beijing will again put NBC Olympics’ coverage in front of the vast and very active Twitter audience with great Olympic moments, great Olympic programming and a nightly peek into our primetime broadcast for those not yet in front of their televisions,” said Gary Zenkel, president, NBC Olympics. “This agreement allows us to extend the reach of our Olympic advertisers to those audiences that view the content we have custom produced for Twitter.”

The 2021 Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to take place from July 23-Aug. 8, 2021.

STAMFORD, Conn.—In a world without the pandemic, the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo would be starting tomorrow, July 24. Instead, the games were postponed to 2021.

Now, as July 23 marks the year-long countdown to the rescheduled games’ Opening Ceremony, NBC Sports, the U.S. broadcast home of the Olympics, has released a video that will get people’s adrenaline pumping for all the action.

Despite the optimism that NBC portrays for the Summer Olympics taking place in 2021, and the fact that American team sports are starting to return (albeit without actual fans), some are still concerned about the logistics of hosting the games at this time next year.

In an interview with Japanese broadcaster NHK, Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, said that if the current conditions surrounding COVID-19 continue it would not be feasible to hold the games. He suggested that having a vaccine was key to an improved situation and that he remains hopeful for one.

There have been recent reports of “encouraging” progress for a vaccine from an Oxford University team.

In the event that the situation does not improve, however, the International Olympic Committee and Japanese organizers are on record that the games would be cancelled rather than postpone a second time. 

LONDON—There is no option C for the Tokyo Olympics if the Summer Games had to be delayed again, according to a BBC report quoting Tokyo Olympics Games Chief Yoshiro Mori.

The Tokyo Olympics, which were scheduled to take place this summer, have been postponed to July 23-Aug. 8, 2021, because of COVID-19 pandemic. However, according to the BBC report, health experts said that it would be difficult to hold the Summer Games at that time if no vaccine or effective drugs have been found to treat COVID-19.

If asked whether the Games could then take place in 2022, Mori simply replied, “no,” saying in that situation the Olympics would be scrapped.

Health experts hope that a vaccine will be developed by mid-2021.

For more information, read BBC’s story. 

LAUSANNE, Switzerland—The Tokyo Olympics that were scheduled to take place from July 24-Aug. 9 has officially been rescheduled, now set to take place from July 23-Aug. 8 in 2021, the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee announced. In addition, the 2020 Paralympics, which were also postponed, have been officially rescheduled for Aug. 24-Sept. 5, 2021.

The upcoming Summer Olympics were postponed last week due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The IOC says that the new dates will give those involved with organizing the Games time to deal with the ever-shifting landscape of the coronavirus crisis, while also having minimum disruption on the global sports calendar. The IOC says that the qualification process for the Games will remain the same as they were for 2020. Athletes that had already qualified for the 2020 Olympics will not have their status changed because of the delay.

“It is fantastic news that we could find new dates so quickly for the Tokyo 2020 Games,” said Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee. “The new dates provide certainty for the athletes, reassurance for the stakeholders and something to look forward to for the whole world.”

LAUSANNE, Switzerland—There will be no Summer Olympics in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, this according to a joint statement from the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee.

IOC President Thomas Bach and the Prime Minister of Japan, Abe Shinzo, as well as other members of the IOC and Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, made the announcement during a conference call on Tuesday morning, March 24.

“In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO (World Health Organization) today, the IOC President and Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympics Games and the international community,” the statement read.

According to the IOC’s statement, as recently as March 23, the WHO reported that there were more than 375,000 recorded cases of COVID-19 throughout the world, with cases in nearly every country.

“The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present,” the statement continued. “Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan. It was also agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.”

In terms of the Olympics’ broadcast, an NBC Sports spokesperson gave a statement to The Hollywood Reporter earlier in the week, saying: “These are extraordinary and unprecedented times, and we fully support the IOC’s decision to step up its scenario-planning for the Tokyo Olympics. We are prepared to stand behind any decision made by the IOC, the Japanese government and the world health officials with whom they are working regarding the Tokyo Olympics.”

This marks the first postponement of the Olympics in modern history. The Games were cancelled in 1916, 1940 and 1944 due to World War I and World War II, respectively.

TOKYO—As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the globe and with nations ordering citizens to take drastic measures to reduce contagion, the world’s largest sporting and broadcast event hangs in the balance. 

On Sunday, Canada, followed by Australia, both announced that they would not send athletes to the 2020 Summer Games, which take place in Tokyo, July 24-Aug. 9. The Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committee said in a statement that it urgently recommended that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) postpone the games. "This is not solely about athlete health—this is about public health," it said in a statement.

Their withdrawals came after the IOC issued a statement that it was still evaluating the future of the games but would make a final decision within four weeks. 

"A decision about a postponement today could not determine a new date for the Olympic Games because of the uncertain developments in both directions; an improvement, as we are seeing in a number of countries thanks to the severe measures being taken, or a deteriorating situation in other countries,” IOC President, Thomas Bach, wrote in a letter to athletes over the weekend.

Bach noted that the IOC is looking at a postponement to a later date rather than an outright cancellation. "Cancellation would not solve any problem and would help nobody," he added. "Therefore it is not on our agenda."

Japan is reportedly spending $12.6 billion on the games and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told lawmakers over the weekend that it would be difficult to hold the games during the pandemic without behavioral restraints. 

“If it is difficult to hold (the Games) in a complete way, a decision of postponement would be unavoidable,” he said.

NBC, the broadcaster covering the games for the U.S.—which has reported that it has sold $1.5 billion in advertising—said earlier this month that it is financially prepared should the event be postponed. 

“Should there be some disruption, we anticipate these kinds of things in big-contract language,” Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said at the Morgan Stanley Investor Conference, as reported by Vulture in early March. “It’s full steam ahead. We’re getting ready. We also have insurance for any expenses we make, so there should be no losses should there not be an Olympics.” 

TOKYO—The impact of the coronavirus could lead to the first non-wartime cancellation of the Olympic games in modern history, a senior member of the International Olympic Committee told the Associated Press.

Dick Pound, who has been with the IOC since 1978, says that the organization has a two- to three-month window—which at the latest would be late May—to determine if the coronavirus has been contained and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics can go on as currently scheduled or if it is best to cancel the games.

“In and around that time, I’d say folks are going to have to ask: ‘Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo or not?’” Pound told AP.

The coronavirus outbreak began in China but has been spreading, with more than 80,000 people infected across the globe and 2,700 killed. Japan has four reported deaths to date, per AP.

Pound said that a postponement or relocation of the event was unlikely because of numerous logistical and scheduling problems that could occur, including for broadcasters.

“There’s so many moving parts, so many countries and different seasons, and competitive seasons, and television seasons. You can’t just say, ‘We’ll do it in October,’” said Pond.

In North America, moving the Olympics to the fall would then put them in conflict with broadcast schedules for the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college football and European soccer.

As of now, Pound told AP that the plan is still for the Olympic games to go on as scheduled in Tokyo, but the ultimate decision will be based on how the virus progresses and the IOC’s discussions with the World Health Organization.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to open July 24.

STAMFORD, Conn.—Molly Solomon will now carry the torch and lead NBC Olympics’ coverage, as NBC Sports Group has named her the executive producer and president of NBC Olympics Production. She will also continue to serve as the executive producer for the Golf Channel.

Solomon has worked at NBC Sports for three decades, which has included working on 10 Olympics, including being the coordinating producer of the 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony and primetime show. She has been with the Golf Channel since 2012.

In her new role for NBC’s Olympics coverage, Solomon will be tasked with overseeing all day-to-day editorial production for the Games, as well as Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA. She will report to Pete Bevacqua, president of NBC Sports Group.

“As a broadcast partner at the PGA of America, and now as a colleague at NBC Sports, I’ve had a front-row seat watching Molly skillfully and creatively lead a tremendous GOLF Channel production team,” said Bevacqua. “We are excited to put oversight of our Olympic presentation into her exceptionally-qualified hands, and are especially proud to see a long-time and well-liked member of our NBC team return to her roots.”

“I can’t wait to dig in and work more broadly on the Tokyo Olympics, which will be the biggest media event in the world,” said Solomon.

The Tokyo Olympics will take place in the summer of 2020.

Solomon will now be based at NBC Sports Group’s International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn.

STAMFORD, Conn.—The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo are just about a year away, and Twitter and NBC are going for content gold via a newly announced partnership for the games. As a result of the pairing, NBC and Twitter will boost Olympic coverage via exclusive daily programming, daily viewer polls and video highlights.

Every morning during the 2020 Games, NBC Olympics will produce a 20-minute live studio program from Tokyo that will air exclusively on Twitter. The program will showcase highlights, athlete interviews, stories from the host city and feature Twitter reactions from the games.

Twitter will also show a daily live look-in of NBC Olympics Primetime or Primetime Plus coverage, with the specific coverage of an athlete, sport or event determined each day via a fan poll.

Additional content will come through clips of the most memorable moments from the games, produced by NBC Olympics and published on Twitter. There will also be coverage of pre-games content, starting in February 2020, including real-time highlights of Olympic sports and the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

“A seminal event like the Olympics offered us the opportunity to think bigger and more robustly about how fans can engage in and around the world-class content that the NBC Olympics team will be bringing to bear,” said Kay Madati, global vice president and head of content partnerships at Twitter. “This partnership gives us the opportunity to bring our highly-engaged audience even closer to NBC Olympics’ coverage of the action happening in Tokyo, providing more content to fuel the already electric Olympic conversation on Twitter.”

The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo will take place from July 24-Aug 9, 2020.