What happens when you bring together a hyper-connected audience from all around the world to watch live broadcasts of the largest multi-sport event on the planet, accessible through various platforms at their fingertips? The post-Paris numbers will tell us. Undoubtedly, we can already affirm that the coverage and viewership of the 2024 Olympic Games will look different.
Each new edition of the Olympic Games reflects the transformation of communication. Over the past seven Summer Olympic Games, I’ve closely observed this evolution through projects developed for various clients. In 1996, during the Atlanta Games (USA), Kodak still reigned in the Press Center, providing film development services for thousands of accredited photographers. The internet was in its infancy, and even offering email access to journalists at the Coca-Cola Brazil press center in Miami (a sub-host city for Olympic football) was a novelty that many were unfamiliar with.
By Sydney 2000, the pioneering content project we created for the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) was already based on transforming the COB website into a major news agency, updated in real time. Meanwhile, Kodak’s services dwindled until they disappeared in 2008 during the Beijing Games due to digital cameras and direct transmission from competition venues.
During the Rio 2016 Games, integration with social media was a reality. For example, we used this for the Olympic Torch Relay communication, creating 17 digital channels across various social networks in three languages, along with an exclusive press access website.
The Tokyo 2021 edition took further steps toward multi-platform coverage. According to Comscore data, Brazilian broadcasters that transmitted the Games to our country generated over 50.9 million social media interactions (mentions, likes, shares) and reached a total audience of 34 million. People increasingly want to be part of what they watch, sharing and commenting from anywhere, at any time.
Now in Paris, this scenario will be amplified. Cazé TV, for instance, will stream hundreds of hours of the Games on YouTube and Twitch, with carnival commentator Milton Cunha participating in the opening ceremony. Additionally, the COB has heavily invested in creators for the first time, ensuring that new stories about Brazil at the Games are told across more platforms, from fresh angles, attracting new audiences.
The athletes themselves play an increasingly significant role as content producers. In recent years, the International Olympic Committee has relaxed rules regarding what athletes can post on their personal profiles during their participation in the Games.
Here at Textual, we’re also working to diversify the coverage of Paris 2024. Our project developed by DiversaCom, our diversity branch, and Alma Preta—an ethnic-racial news agency with over 600,000 Instagram followers—will be the first black and independent media outlet in Brazil to cover an Olympic Games. Post-Games, we’ll share this experience with students and peripheral media outlets across the country, ensuring that Olympic coverage leaves a lasting legacy.
More platforms, fresh perspectives. This also applies, of course, to sponsor brands directly involved with the Games. More channels and formats enable new conversations with diverse audiences. Excellent! The key is to maintain the essence that should guide all activation projects on any platform: respect for the sport, which remains at the heart of the Olympic Games, and the delicate balance between informality and misinformation. Once this essence is preserved, it is time to navigate through the creativity and emotion that only sports can provide!
Carina Almeida, journalist, economist and the president-partner of Textual Comunicação.