Continuing its “Billion Dollar Lab” research efforts surrounding the Beijing and Vancouver Olympics, NBCUniversal will conduct a third Olympics research initiative during the 2012 London Games. NBCU will work with Google and comScore for a series of research projects that will explore new ways to measure single source consumption of video content on TV, mobile, the PC, and for the first time in this Olympics—the tablet.
The initiative will combine Google’s analytical and digital expertise with NBCUniversal’s Olympics experience to explore consumer media behavior. NBCU and comScore will also partner on a project to measure how different demographic groups use media to follow the Games.
Considered the “holy grail” of media measurement, single source data measures the use of different devices by an individual consumer across multiple channels, online services and apps. In order to achieve this, the Google project will feature a panel of some 3,000 respondents. The project will also utilize a number of proprietary algorithms developed specifically for this project by Google.
The comScore initiative will tap into the company’s new 10,000 member single source TV/Online panel to focus on several hundred Olympic enthusiasts who plan to follow the Games on multiple platforms. It will employ set top boxes, electronic meters and panelist self reports to provide new insights into how today’s media platforms contribute to the Olympic experience for fans.
NBCUniversal, Google, and comScore intend to share both the results, as well as the broader learnings obtained about the various approaches to cross platform measurement. NBCU says it will announce other research partnerships for the “Billion Dollar Lab” in the coming weeks.
Here are some “Billion Dollar Lab” learnings from the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics:
1. THE OLYMPICS IS A HUGE CULTURAL EVENT
* 46% of Olympic viewers changed their typical routine to watch the Olympics.
* 63% stayed up longer than usual to watch, resulting in 42% being “more tired than normal.”
* 35% of viewers cried or became teary-eyed while watching (25% among men)
(Source: Research Results)
2. BIG EVENT TV PROGRAMMING BIIGER NOW – MORE THAN EVER
* More than half of all Americans have watched the Vancouver Olympics on the networks of NBC (174 million).
* That’s 24% more viewers than watched the entire 2009 season of American Idol (140 million for 39 separate telecasts).
3. THE OLYMPICS ARE A POSITIVE FAMILY VIEWING EXPERIENCE
* 77% of parents say they use the Olympics to teach their kids values.
* 76% agree “Olympics give me an opportunity to spend quality time together with my family.” (Source: Insight Express 2/14/10)
4. THERE IS TREMENDOUS GROWTH IN YOUNGER VIEWERS
* Gains from youth categories far exceed growth in older demos.
* Viewing among P18-24 is up 46% and viewing among older teens
(15-17) is up 34% (compared to viewing for Torino Games).
5. PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR A SHARED CULTURAL EXPERIENCE IN A
FRACTIONALIZED MEDIA WORLD
* There aren’t many experiences that let people share an event in such great numbers. We see that in our social networking numbers and the overall amount of viewing.
* 63% of Olympics viewers say, “My friends and I enjoy talking about these Olympics.”
RBR-TVBR observation: The Olympics are one prime example of cross-platform media consumption, as the events are ongoing for days, take place over multiple dayparts and air live overnights here in the US. Much of the information and viewing will not be gleaned from the TV set. The data will supply a solid foundation of Olympics and other major event content consumption patterns for advertisers.
