Olympics online videos ratings surge

NBC has seen encouraging results for its online video coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games, according to Nielsen Online figures released Monday.  On Friday, Aug. 8, 436,000 unique U.S. viewers accessed video coverage of the opening ceremonies and the few sports that began competition prior to the festivities.  Traffic almost doubled the next day, as nearly 900,000 viewers took in video coverage of the first full day of competition. 

Despite some problems with load speeds, initial lag on longer videos and network embargoes of some content, the online presentation of the Olympics appears to be a relatively seamless success so far for NBC, not to mention Microsoft's Silverlight video technology and Limelight Networks' content delivery service. 

NBC intends to carry more than 2,000 hours of online video to supplement its live broadcast coverage of the Beijing games.  Advertisers and Olympic sponsors are watching closely to see if online coverage will attract and keep fans of sports that don't make it to direct broadcast.

For more:
- Nielsen reports top ten Olympic websites and complete NBC Olympic video stats

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