When it comes to generational change, sometimes you’re able to spot the exact sliding doors moment where things irrevocably shift.
Sometimes what you thought might be a defining moment turns out to be a red herring. And then other times, you really only realize that you’ve lived through a transformation when you’re fully on the other side and truly experiencing it.
The 2024 Paris Olympics feels like one of those moments when it comes to the streaming revolution.
The media industry is on a long arc accelerating towards streaming. It’s why companies like Amazon are securing billion-dollar deals for the NFL and NBA, why WWE Raw is moving to Netflix, why Apple is the home of Major League Soccer, and why YouTubeTV exclusively airs NFL Sunday Ticket.
For years we wondered when tech companies would overrun traditional broadcast networks and launch the streaming era. But it didn’t happen overnight and it didn’t come with an AI takeover of the world. The world’s currencies haven’t fully succumbed to Bitcoin nor have we entered some kind of retrofuturistic Fallout landscape.
Instead, the streaming revolution has come bit by bit, little by little over the last several years. Then, suddenly, it’s 2024 and we realize that streaming isn’t just the place for obscure niche sports or alt-casts, it is our primary go-to option.
NBC Universal’s strategy of pushing Peacock as its streaming platform has received plenty of pushback from sports fans for the number of high-profile sporting events that have gone behind the paywall. In just the last year we have seen an NFL playoff game and countless high-profile college games go exclusively to streaming in the hopes of boosting subscriber numbers and drawing a profit. And it’s largely worked. Peacock’s impact on the sports world will only grow when it becomes a major part of the new NBA media deals for the 2025-2026 NBA season. But it can still be a nuisance for sports fans who feel they are the ones fronting the bill for every media company in America to get their streaming platforms off the ground.
But if there is one event that was built for Peacock, it’s the 2024 Paris Olympics. And for the first time, instead of pushing back on the idea of NBC featuring Olympic events on the streaming platform, America is fully embracing it.
It’s the best sign to date that the streaming revolution is complete.
To their credit, NBC has totally reversed their strategy from a generation ago of saving all of the good stuff to construct a primetime soap opera and keeping everything else in a lockbox. While NBC’s primetime coverage is still a priority for the network, they’ve put more into their Peacock coverage than ever before. Every sport and every event is televised live.
There are also plenty of multiview options to choose from. On Tuesday afternoon, the women’s gymnastics team final, USA women’s rugby bronze medal game, USA men’s soccer, and Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal playing men’s doubles tennis were all featured at once.
And Gold Zone has been buffed to become a leading element of NBC’s Olympics coverage rather than a supporting player.
Olympics on Peacock is the first time (and I do mean the FIRST time) that streaming tech has legitimately elevated my viewing experience of sports. Hate to do PR for Comcast but the whole thing is just really good, and a perfect fit for such a confusing, huge event
— Alex Kirshner (@alex_kirshner) July 27, 2024
What’s funny about the 2024 Olympics though is not much of this is new… but how it’s being received is.
The Gold Zone concept actually dates back to the 2014 Olympics! Except in years past, it was shown on the NBC Sports app or the NBC Sports website. Neither had the reach or cultural awareness that Peacock currently enjoys. In past Olympics, a wide majority of fans and viewers probably didn’t even know that it existed. Now it’s become a primary viewing habit, and an addictive one at that as the hosts masterfully bounce from one Olympic event to another highlighting gold medals, Team USA, and everything in between.
It’s a totally different experience now that streaming plays such a dominant role in our consumption habits. And that impact has clearly shown in the reviews and appreciation of Gold Zone, which has taken this year’s Olympics by storm. With more people watching and tuned in to Gold Zone than ever before, it’s received rave reviews from fans and media outlets alike.
It also helps that as NBC has gone all-in promoting Gold Zone, airing it for 10 hours each day, featuring both NFL RedZone icons Andrew Siciliano and Scott Hanson to help lead the coverage.
Another factor is the disappearing influence of cable television. This is the first Summer Games since NBC shut down NBCSN at the close of 2021. Without a dedicated cable sports channel, NBC has shifted much of its focus to broadcast or Peacock. Yes, there are still some cable elements that exist in coverage from Paris, but they seem to make up the leftovers rather than anything that draws a prime focus.
NBC’s messaging has been clear – if you want to watch anything and everything, go to Peacock. If you want the main courses and the traditional Olympic experience, stick with broadcast. No longer is there any concern about spoiler alerts or what can be shared and when. Instead, it’s all out there for us to enjoy.
The approach mirrors what we are seeing in the wider sports world. As illustrated by the recent NBA deals, what’s happening are parallel paths towards broadcast (maximizing reach) and streaming (maximizing subscribers and revenue). Stuck in the middle of these shifting tectonic plates is cable, which may see its decline only ramp up in the months and years ahead.
The enthusiasm for the Paris Olympics has been helped by several other factors. Team USA has plenty of superstars who are medal favorites in key events. This is the first true post-COVID Olympics after the 2020 version was delayed to 2021. Even the timezone difference helps as the Paris Olympics are perfect for streaming because most all of the events are happening in the morning and daytime hours when Americans are potentially at work or working from home and can bring up their desktop, laptop, or phone. Three years ago in Tokyo, most events were happening either late at night or in the middle of the night.
Finally, almost everyone being on board with streaming and sharing the experience in real time can’t be discounted as a major factor as well. It’s no longer something you do in isolation if you subscribe to a certain package or not. It’s crossed the Rubicon and become our everyday reality.
In truth, what’s on offer on streaming at this year’s Olympics is a sports fan’s nirvana. Having every event and every sport and the complimentary whiparound coverage of key moments serves all kinds of sports fans from the casuals to the hardcores to the ones who just want something on in the background while they’re working.
Although the streaming revolution has been talked about for a while, the 2024 Paris Olympics will be remembered for when the torch was truly passed.
