Beijing Olympics a true Test of Cross-Channel Media Programming and Marketing.

JupiterResearch believes that NBC’s ambitious plans for online coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics present NBC and other media companies with a unique opportunity to create strategic cross-channel programming and marketing.

While the most popular Olympic events fill a near 24-hour broadcast schedule that appeals to a more general audience, it will take masterful planning and execution to promote online and mobile offerings to both niche and mass-market audiences, all while dancing around rights issues and potential cannibalization.

The Beijing Olympics could expand the online audience for live events beyond the 12 percent of online adults that said they had previously watched a live event on the Internet, according to a June 2008 JupiterResearch survey. But most of the marquee sports will remain on prime time television. “NBC looks poised to exploit Internet video’s on-demand and niche or out-of-market programming,” said JupiterResearch Analyst Bobby Tulsiani. “But it might be missing out on the Internet’s syndication and interactivity opportunities. Nearly two-thirds of online users use the Internet and watch TV simultaneously.”

“The Olympics offer those all-too-rare online chances to reach a huge common audience — the things TV does best,” noted JupiterResearch Senior Analyst Emily Riley. “And with a reported 80 percent of online inventory already sold, NBC has the chance to experiment broadly with various advertising options such as behavioral targeting.”

For more information at http://www.jupiterresearch.com.>