A new Web site within the Yahoo Sports portal will give visitors a host of ways to follow the Olympic Games over the Internet—and marketers a number of ways to link their brand names to the online action from Beijing.

The new site, sports.yahoo.com/olympics, will offer streaming video and updated content from the Yahoo Sports editorial team of the 2008 Olympic Games. The site will also offer photos from the games and the expert analysis of several ex-Olympic athletes, including 1992 medalist and long-jump record holder Mike Powell and 1996 gold medalist gymnast Dominique Dawes.

Yahoo’s Olympics package will also offer a number of ad-supported enhanced features, such as a “Beijing Torch Tracker,” showing the route the Olympic symbol is following around China before making its appearance at the games opener on August 8. Lodging chain Super 8 Motels is branding the torch tracker and running display ads on the page.

Once the games get underway, Chevrolet will sponsor a daily video update and a special “Medals Roundup” segment, while cable and broadband provider Comcast will sponsor the main Olympics results section. A daily video recap of the top competitive stories from Beijing will be hosted on the site by 2006 silver medalist snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler.

Site users will also be able to personalize settings for the site to break out news in their favorite sports or follow specific international contests. Visitors can also set a watch list that will track news and results for their favorite athletes of choice.

One prominent site sponsor will be Bank of America, which will sponsor the Yahoo! Sports Summer Games Web-based news program. Bank of America is currently running video ads on the Yahoo! site that promote its “America’s Cheer” Olympics promotion, in which fans can support the U.S. teams with texts, photo or video cheers. The cheers can be uploaded at www.americascheer.com/ or recorded at mobile booths touring the country until the Beijing closing ceremonies on August 24 (Promo Xtra, April 23, 2008).
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Yahoo will also offer mobile updates of Olympics results through its Connected Life platform. Cell phone users will find medal counts, game photos and expert content at the mobile Web site http://m.yahoo.com/20008games. Yahoo Search will also provide an in-page shortcut that will help users locate Olympics-related Web content quickly.

Online coverage of Olympic stories is expected to play an important part of many Americans’ games experience this time around. The time difference between Beijing and the U.S. means that with few exceptions, almost all the competitive events at this year’s games will be taking place during the late-night or early-morning hours in the U.S.

“The Games are taking place halfway around the world in Beijing this summer, and while you might want to be the first to know what’s happening, you can’t stay up all night every night,” said Bruce Stewart, vice president and general manager of Yahoo Connected Life Americas, in a statement. “Now you can grad the phone from your pocket during the day, or sleep with your mobile phone on your nightstand—which you know you do anyway-and simply visit Yahoo’s mobile Web site to get in the know.”

Coverage of the Beijing Olympics is likely to lean heavily on results and analysis rather than video, however, because the deal struck by NBC with the International Olympics Committee gives the broadcaster the power to impose tight limits on the use of actual games video by competing TV channels or by Web sites other than its own www.NBCOlympics.com.

Even there, events that are scheduled for television broadcast will only be available for viewing on the Web about half a day after they air on TV.

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