Virtual Olympians

New media is likely to revolutionise the way we consume sport, but how ready are the IOC to embrace this evolution?

Sport Business - February edition

The Olympic Museum in Lausanne is an uplifting and moving place. A cathedral for the sporting religion, awash with the images, sounds and memorabilia of sporting icons, a place to worship and pay homage to the extremes of human endeavour and achievement. Male, female, black, white, young and not so young, from every background the length and breadth of the planet since, one is frequently reminded, the Olympics is a celebration of humanity.

The Museum was the venue for the reception for delegates of the IOC's Sport and New Media conference in December, and all the high priests and bishops of the world of sport were there. In stark contrast to the colour, passion and energy of the exhibits, the place was a sea of grey flannel, almost all male, almost all over 45, and all there to rub shoulders and supposedly debate the cataclysmic impact that new media in all its many forms will have on the world of sport rights in the future.

I'd suggest that much of the new media terminology, discussion and debate of the conference went right over the heads of a large proportion of the audience, particularly those of the sports league and governing body fraternity. Time and time again we would be reminded of the currently low impact of the Web relative to television and sense that many would rather bury their heads in the sand in the hope that the whole new media circus would disappear from town as quickly as it arrived. Or sell their web rights to the highest bidder as quickly as possible in order to be shot of the problem. Which, given the complexity of those rights, is no surprise.

But the reality is that the huge increase in consumption and usage of the web, interactive television and mobile telephony will be instrumental in captivating and inspiring the next generation of Olympians, participants and fans. In the UK over 40% of children between the ages of 8-13 have access to (and use) the internet in their home, and an increasing number have mobile phones too. And let us not forget the enormous pocket-money spending power of this increasingly brand-savvy group - in the UK amounting to over £790m a year for this age group alone.

Young internet users have no time for rubbish or dithering. They are children of the information age, and unless the sports product is provided at the right time through the right medium, the very short attention span of this group will turn elsewhere, to music, to cinema and to other forms of entertainment in its broadest sense. To some extent this is already happening. We are aware of at least two major global sports sponsors intent on reducing the number of properties they sponsor overall in order to divert a greater proportion of the sponsorship pot to more youth-oriented arts related projects, in the belief that sport no longer hits the right buttons with that vital consumer group. And if the supply of sports fans and players begins to dwindle, future discussions with TV, sponsors and internet service providers may begin to take a very different shape indeed.

But whilst the internet can provide the means to satisfy the sports fan, how do we provide the catalyst for children to get off the net and onto the pitch or into the pool? The rise and rise of new technologies can provide both the means to inspire, the power to motivate, and the reason to sit in front of a screen for hours on end doing nothing. We know that the number of US teenagers participating in physical fitness activity has declined by 21 % since 1987. Who will be the first to identify a direct correlation between increasing use of the internet for all things sports related and a reduction in actual participation?

How often do rights holders delve into the real interests and consumption patterns of young people into their sport? The IOC conference was a reasonable first go at encouraging dialogue between the stakeholders in this industry, but there was a sense of little real comprehension of the way that new media and technology will change the way that sport is consumed, particularly by young people. Whilst the need to come to terms with new media rights is a given, we must equally encourage a parallel discussion of new media use, and its absolute integral role in younger lifestyles in particular. For there will be no Olympic Golds in the future for the ability to click on a mouse.

Sally Hancock
Chief Executive
Redmandarin