Over 1,200 hours of live coverage of the Beijing Winter Olympics: 19 days of competitions, 15 disciplines and 109 events. With 118 Italian athletes looking for a medal. “The Olympic Games are the pinnacle of sport,” says Alessandro Araimo, CEO of Discovery Italia, presenting the platform’s schedule in view of the opening ceremony on 4 February.
The group was awarded the TV rights for the Olympics in 2015, when it put on the plate 1.3 billion dollars for four editions of the games from 2018 to 2024: “We are three quarters of the way – says the manager -, but it is certainly a winning bet. In addition to being the demonstration of how there are sports with enormous potential yet to be expressed in terms of visibility ». And to confirm that there is more besides football, the data on the Australian Open final between Medvedev and Nadal arrive, followed by almost half a million people on Eurosport (net of those who followed it through streaming apps, ed. ) with a share of 4%. A record.
When Discovery made a strong commitment to the Olympic Games seven years ago, skepticism was strong: «The excitement of the Games is always enormous. The public is constantly growing, as well as advertising investments ».
On the other hand, the Discovery group’s OTT platform will be the only reality where spectators will have access to each scheduled event in a sort of five-circle “full immersion”. Also because the full coverage of Discovery + will begin before the opening ceremony: the first curling, ice hockey and freestyle skiing events are scheduled from Wednesday 2 February. The first medals, on the other hand, will be awarded on February 5th.
“We have revolutionized the way in which fans can follow live sporting events” continues Araimo who then says: “With the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games we continue this path, accompanying the public in an exciting and engaging experience, in which the main pillar remains the ability to see every moment of the Games, at any time and through any device. We look forward to cheering on the Italia Team athletes and eager to bring another memorable edition of the Olympic Games to the public, partners and our investors “
Spectators will experience the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, also in terms of innovation and digital thanks to the Cube study, Discovery’s native and exclusive technology that allows, among other things, to analyze every detail of the movements and performance of athletes. thanks to augmented reality.
«The quality of production is now crucial for the public – says the manager – it must be of a high level in the sports halls, but also in the studios. With the Cube we give a real added value in the avant-garde coverage of the event and we will give the spectators of Beijing 2022 an architectural and cinematographic scenario destined to raise the technological standards of the management of the studios and television broadcasts of the future “.