Olympische Spiele: Rekordverdächtige Zuschauerzahlen im Internet[en] 

Over 18 million single viewers watched live events of the Olympic Games on the national television websites or on Eurovision, the pan-European video portal (www.eurovisionsports.tv/olympics ), according to figures released by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

This represents the largest online audience ever recorded for Olympic Games at European level. In comparison, the Winter Olympics in Turin in 2006 gathered an audience of less than 2 million, a score which was however higher than for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

According to the EBU, the growing audience is the result of an increased Internet offer (120 million broadband video streams were offered by EBU members for the Beijing Olympics in comparison to 23 million for the Turin Winter Games). It is also reflects a "rapidly increasing acceptance of these new distribution mechanisms, especially among younger audiences," according to EBU representatives. 

EBU members - which include the likes of BBC, TF1 or RAI - are the main providers to of sport events to the European public, such as the Olympics.

In perspective, however, the broadband offer is still a nascent service, especially if compared with the other more traditional ways of watching sport. The opening ceremony of the Beijing Games for instance gathered an audience of about 2.3 billion television viewers across the globe, according to MindShare, a consulting firm.

Nevertheless, the EBU reckons that its members made some 15,000 hours of live content available online. An typical user visited the EBU video portal for 30 minutes, watching on average five different live streams each visits. After the end of the Games, the audience decreased unsurprisingly but many users continue to access videos on the Web to watch the most spectacular images again. 

What’s more, the increased Internet traffic for bandwidth-consuming services makes it more important than ever to upgrade telecommunication networks. After strong pressure from the main Telecoms operators, the European Commission recognised the importance of facilitating the deployment of new infrastructure based on optical fibres, the so-called New Generation Networks (NGNs) that are able to support a much heavier data-stream than current systems. A recommendation by Brussels is expected in the coming weeks (EurActiv 04/06/08).

However, there is currently no data available regarding the number of users of new broadcasting services provided on mobile phones. The take-off of new services was supposed to coincide with the Olympic Games and the previous Football European Cup in Austria and Switzerland. But the industry has so far been quiet about audience figures.