The 2008 Olympic Games: The Online Fan
With the first “online Olympics” in the record books - the records broken are notable. More than 10,500 athletes representing 205 countries participated, with 87 nations taking home medals from at least one of the 302 medal events. One-hundred and thirty-two Olympics records were broken and the athletes set 43 new world records. And, of course, Michael Phelps set a few bars of his own.
But enough about those records…what did we mere mortals do online over the course of the games? The interest in China, continued improvements in technology and the prevalence of content on a 24/7 basis drove high online “participation” among U.S. fans during these Olympic games as measured in online media usage.
For details on Olympics-related Web traffic, online advertising and “buzz,” please see my complete wrap-up of the online games in the Information Center on our home page.
