Sports fans will be spoilt for choice when it comes to enjoying the soon-to-start Olympics with Yahoo the latest company promising blanket coverage of the event in London.
The web company announced its plans for the event on Wednesday, promising “some of the most comprehensive, social, interactive, and personal experiences to date, across every screen.”
Yahoo’s global user base will have access to breaking news from the sports extravaganza, together with original video programs, photos of events, analysis from Olympians past and present, and reports from Yahoo’s own team of sports writers. Content will be tailored to different regions and offered in a number of languages.
The sports fest, which kicks off on July 27, could prove lucrative for Yahoo, with advertisers seeking to gain access to the web company’s 700 million users around the world – or at least, the ones who are interested in sport.
“Yahoo has been the number one online destination for Olympics coverage since 2006, proving to be the place for users to gather and follow the biggest events,” Yahoo’s Ken Fuchs said in a statement, adding “London 2012 will be a showcase for 24/7 reporting, across all screens, and Yahoo is investing to deliver powerful experiences for our users and advertisers.”
So what’s in store for sports lovers? Here’s a brief rundown:
The Yahoo Hub, anchored within Yahoo Sports, will be offering breaking news, major headlines and event summaries, as well as a game called London Pick’em, “a prediction-style game [that] will allow fans to challenge their friends and compete against fellow Yahoo users from 27 countries around the world.”
IntoNow from Yahoo presents users with a second screen TV experience offering fans the chance to enjoy the very latest synchronized content featuring medal counts, images from the Games, schedules and more, synchronized with the event on the TV.
Yahoo’s Sportacular iOS and Android app will include easy-to-access information on participating teams, players, Olympic stats and the ever-changing medal table.
Yahoo’s Sports TV app will feature Beyond Gold for Connected TV, an on-screen experience for people watching the Games, offering up news, scores, medal counts, photos and videos right on the TV screen.
Besides all the TV channels broadcasting blanket coverage of the Games, Yahoo will also be competing with both YouTube and NBC, who will both be streaming live coverage on their respective websites. “If cameras are on it, we’ll stream it,” NBC’s Rick Cordella said recently.
