Yahoo brings Beijing Olympics coverage to mobile

By Dan Butcher

July 1, 2008

Hamming it up on mobile

Yahoo has drawn up extensive plans to let fans follow the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing using their mobile devices.

Mobile consumers will be able to track the medal count, get the latest news from Beijing, view photos and read commentary on the games written by Yahoo Sports analysts. This coverage will be available on Yahoo’s mobile Web site at http://m.yahoo.com/2008games.

“The Olympics is an exciting world event that only happens every four years, and we want to make sure we let our users get coverage on the go anywhere they are,” said Michelle Haag, senior director of Yahoo Mobile, Sunnyvale, CA.

“Mobile is a priority for Yahoo, and we want to bring a great mobile experience to users, leverage the audience we get on the PC and get that same great content to them wherever they are,” Ms. Haag said.

The Olympic news comes soon after Yahoo announced a partnership with Publicis Groupe’s newly launched VivaKi Nerve Center to integrate their respective mobile advertising platforms (see story).

Getting the big picture

Yahoo’s WAP site is part of Yahoo Sports' coverage related to the Olympic Games in Beijing.

The company also launched a new Web portal for the games at sports.yahoo.com/olympics, which features free video content, and a custom in-page Web-search shortcut.

While sports-loving, mobile-savvy consumers are an obvious fit for the new service, Yahoo's target for its Olympic mobile effort is broad.

Clocking in

“Everyone with a mobile phone,” Ms. Haag said. “The Olympics is for everybody.”

Yahoo is currently in discussions for mobile advertising deals. Names of potential advertisers are under wraps.

“We’ve had a great response from advertisers, and they’re really happy with our new offerings,” Ms. Haag said.

Yahoo’s online advertising partners include budget lodging chain Super 8, which will sponsor the Beijing torch tracker; General Motors' Chevrolet brand, which is sponsoring the Summer Games Roundup and the Medals Module; Bank of America for the new Summer Games Web show; and cable giant Comcast for the Yahoo’s Sports Results section.

Several medal-winning Olympians will serve as Yahoo analysts during the Beijing games. These include Mike Powell, 1992 silver medalist and long-jump record-holder; Dominique Dawes, 1996 gold medalist and gymnast; and Gretchen Bleiler, 2006 silver medalist and snowboarder.

Ms. Bleiler will host the Summer Games Roundup, which is a daily video recap of top stories and information on upcoming Olympic events.

Yahoo expects the Web site to drive traffic to the WAP site, and vice versa.

“We want to take the best of Yahoo’s content and bring that experience to the mobile, since not everyone’s going be sitting in front of their PC,” Ms. Haag said. “It’s a great way to promote this new portal dedicated to the Olympics.

“They can get the same great content on their mobile device, and since these events are taking place halfway around the world, late-night and early-morning hours, it’s convenient to be able to get the latest info any time,” she said.