ロンドンオリンピックでユーザを掴んだライブストリーミングサービス

2012年7～8月に開催されたロンドンオリンピック大会を、地元英国の公共放送BBCは過去最大規模のオンライン配信体制を以って、「デジタル・オリンピック」と称した。BBCのみならず、ロンドンオリンピックを放送した各国の放送局は、前回の北京オリンピックに比べ数倍規模のオンライン配信を行った。
米大手メディアのNBCグループは、オンライン配信を有料映像サービス（CATV、衛星放送、IPTV）の加入者にのみ提供した。いわゆる「TV Everywhere」サービスである。Facebookなど主要なソーシャルサービスとも連携した結果、NBCグループのオンライン配信の総視聴回数は、北京オリンピックの2倍以上となり、モバイルを利用した視聴も増加した。
このように、米英メディアでは、ロンドンオリンピックを契機として、ライブストリーミングの認知度を高め、収益化に向けて、戦略的に動いている。

The vast array of online broadcasting for the London Summer Olympics led the BBC's director of the games’ coverage to describe event as the "Digital Olympics". Not only the UK, but many countries, also took the opportunity of the 2012 Summer Olympics to offer a range of unprecedented digital delivery options.
In the U.S., the NBC group (formally NBCUniversal) made their online contents available only to the "TV Everywhere" users. With the additional aid of major social network services tie-ups including Facebook and Twitter, the NBC group was able to more than double the number of viewers they attracted to online broadcasting for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with many viewers watching videos using mobile devices including smartphones and tablets. Comcast, which, as part of "TV Everywhere" also provided the NBC group's online video streams for their own video subscribers, acknowledged the importance of offering live streaming services, and has committed to this format in their future plans. As for the host nation, the public service broadcaster BBC secured the rights to the Olympics coverage, and they provided more than 2500 hours coverage on both terrestrial and digital formats respectively. In contrast to the U.S. and the NBC group, the BBC offered all live coverage of regular TV, and permitted viewers located in the UK to watch online content for free through Internet-enabled devices including PCs, tablets, game consoles and TVs.
Given such rapid increase in service options and usage, the London Olympics can be considered an important factor accelerating the strategic positioning of broadcasters in the U.S. and the UK, helping to increase the popularity of digital broadcasting and presenting options for monetizing these digital services.