Wireless revolution gains steam at Vancouver Games

The one statistic to note coming out of the Vancouver Games is the evolution and maturation of wireless.

As reported by PaidContent.org, the number of mobile page views increased to 87.1 million in Vancouver from 34.7 million at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. The huge increase came despite it being a Winter Olympics, usually far behind the Summer Games in terms of interest.

Additionally, video streams on mobile phones increased to 2 million in Vancouver from 301,000 in Beijing.

It is a strong sign of how powerful a platform mobile has already become and the trend is headed nowhere but up. Every organization without a plan to incorporate wireless into its content strategy should heed those numbers.

The rest of the data from Vancouver can be parsed in myriad ways, including NBC’s TV ratings. The Miami Herald has a good glass-half-empty/glass-half-full perspective on that.
But there’s no parsing the wireless data. The continued growth of mobile should surprise no one. As a UN survey revealed Monday, more than four billion - yes, that’s billion - people have a wireless subscription. That represents 61 percent of the world’s population.

While the IOC has said it will continue to bundle the TV, broadband and mobile rights in a single package for the 2014 and 2016 Games, as mobile - and the Internet - continue to grow exponentially, that strategy may change for future bids.

If the IOC decided to simply carve out the global rights for mobile, what would they be worth? What would an audience of four billion bring on an open market?

IOC sets '14-16 media plan {Sports Business Journal}
Hockey finale caps strong Olympics for NBC {Miami Herald}
Vancouver 2010: NBCOlympics.com by the numbers {PaidContent.org}
Mobile phone use passes milestone {The Guardian}