Dr. Fernando Borges
Researcher in the University of Coimbra Institute for Legal Research. Member of the coordinating board, he oversees research project submissions, advanced training activities, and research impact assessment. Covering the nexus of Communication and Sport, his research focus on the economical and symbolical elements of the media-sport spectacle, namely the creation of football clubs’ own media channels.
Email: fvsborges@outlook.com
In today’s heavily mediated age, where people live in a “broadcast yourself” life, it seems obvious to say that the Olympics and Paralympics is made for TV. Tokyo 2020 showed us that sport fans are very important to the spectacle, but it is not indispensable to its existence. The time of satellite TV is long gone, and television has morphed (terrestrial, cable, digital, streaming), despite keeping its media characteristics. But just as satellite TV supported the economic growth of the Olympics (and other sports in general), TV remains the most important medium for the event.
Olympics are one of the most clear examples of media-events according to Dayan and Katz work. A media-event is defined by Oxford bibliographies as “live television broadcast of the preplanned event interrupts daily routines, journalists use reverent narration while covering these events, and the broadcast is viewed by a large audience”.
With so many simultaneous sports, it is hard to focus a really large audience in one single event, however the media-event definition is a precise summary of the opening ceremony. Other characteristics include its ritualistic mise en scène and the depiction of consensus values.
This latter characteristic was less evident in Paris 2024 opening ceremony. Stretching 6 km from Austerlitz bridge to the Tour Eiffel, the crowds in the stand might not have grasped the whole picture, however TV cameras showed an opening ceremony that pleased a more progressive audience, but not a perfect consensus in our polarized society. The innovation of having a ceremony outside the Olympic stadium suited the narrative and the beauty of Paris as a city, and created a series of instagrammable pictures and selfies that certainly pleases contemporary audiences.
Despite the early accounts of increased viewership (using the US market as reference), the tendency since London 2012 was a declining ratings curve. Both television companies and the IOC are aware and trying to solve this by enhancing the offer and by creating alternatives, respectively. Eurosport/Max offers to “supercharge the viewing experience” and “putting them (viewers) in control of their own Olympics” with access to all live streams available. On the IOC side, they are trying to reach new and younger audiences, not only by incorporating new sports (such as surfing, climbing, 3×3 basketball), but also creating content and a Olympic brand platform: ‘Sport. And More than Sport’, and selling the rights to new players in streaming.
Paris 2024 coverage by non-traditional channels has contributed to partnerships between social media influencers and sports teams, at a point the Brazilian press is calling the ‘influencers Olympics’. A series of influencers, youtubers, former athletes and formers journalists went to Paris to create content and fan engagement. The combination between influencers and athletes are not restricted to the Brazil Olympic Committee: the IOC has created a game show where Olympians and social media users can compete in games, and they also have pastry tips for Parisian breakfasts. Even athletes might see themselves as influencers, due to effort that some individuals, teams and federations are having to increase their number of followers. For them, Paris might be an opportunity to multiply their digital fans, such as the more than million new followers that the Brazilian gymnastics team obtained after winning the bronze medal.
Notwithstanding the bigger role played by new media players and the strategic importance for younger audiences, TV remains the main venue for the Olympics. Paris 2024 arenas are certainly fit for Instagram and selfies, but that does not exclude how good it looks in aerial camera shots for TV broadcasting. Additionally, with on demand streaming services and apps, the remote control became a tool for fans to have a home-based production control room to watch the Olympics. IOC revenues are heavily dependent on big sponsors and TV rights, and while segmentation is important to some branding activities, the volume of money that the IOC makes is only available in massive TV audiences and big sponsorship deals that come along.
