Without question we in Canada are absolutely blessed to be able to enjoy the Olympics in full totality thanks to the resources that technology makes available to us. Mobile devices have literally put full entertainment systems in our hands, allowing us to consume coverage spanning from Twitter to live streaming video.
Perhaps there is no greater testament to how much technology can change over the course of an Olympic four years than the impact smartphones and tablets have on how Canada experiences these London Games.
According to Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, an incredible 70% of digital traffic to various Canadian Olympics sites this past weekend. The sites in question include French and English versions of CTVOlympics.ca as well as the CTV Olympics London 2012 app, the four of which combined to total 129 million page views.
Watching live video for example, which both the aforementioned mobile app and website do is only as useful as the internet powering the mobile devices. Luckily for Canada, those four years have also allowed for much improved network coverage and speed thanks to 3G and LTE enabled networks and devices.
Although mobile use and consumption were to be expected, many who keep an eye on these types of things were overwhelmed by just how overwhelming the majority of digital traffic came from mobile platforms.
According to the Consortium’s Head of Digital Mark Silver, the use of mobile could also represent a deep sense of national pride and patriotism. “Live sports trend toward mobile access, however, to have audiences engage with us via mobile platforms in such great numbers lets us know that these Games are really important to Canadians, and that they are staying with us for the action throughout the day.”
There is no question that the way we consume coverage is changing, and there is no telling where and how we will be experiencing the 2016 Games.
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