Social media companies such as TikTok, Snap and YouTube are “betting big on this summer’s Paris Olympics,” with plans to “flood the city with creators to cover the Games in ways that traditional broadcasters such as NBC can’t,” according to Les Carpenter of the WASHINGTON POST. After two pandemic Olympics where only athletes, coaches and media were allowed into the country and a 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang that was “too remote for many outsiders,” the social media platforms are “looking at Paris as their first chance to go all-in on an Olympics.” In the past, the idea of NBC giving media credentials to TikTokers and YouTubers “would have been unthinkable.” But NBC is now “scrambling to adapt to an evolving media world,” adding multiple streaming options for the Paris Games on its app Peacock in addition to a traditional prime time telecast. Still, the network’s execs have realized that streaming “won’t be enough to get younger viewers.” So rather than “treating social companies as an enemy poisoning the value of traditional telecasts,” NBC is “trying something it never has around the Olympics before,” partnering with the platforms to make social media superstars part of its coverage. Carpenter noted NBC will have 27 creators between TikTok, Snap, YouTube, Meta and Overtime in Paris, though not all will be there at the same time (WASHINGTON POST, 6/25).
ON THE TRACK: In Phoenix, Logan Stanley wrote that Snoop Dogg has “taken over” the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials as a guest commentator for NBC’s TV broadcast coverage of the event. Stanley noted that Snoop Dogg “ran a 200-meter dash” and “provided commentary” on the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase final, one of track and field’s “most unique events.” He also did a “stadium walk-in” with top American sprinter Noah Lyles, and “provided an explainer” for some of the field events, such as the pole vault. Stanley wrote that this is “part of an overall strategy employed by NBC” as the company “tries to drum up interest” for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics. And it “seems to be working as social media was abuzz with Snoop-related content” (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 6/25).
