Discovery Communications and Eurosport unveil plans to transform Olympic Winter Games viewing experience

Discovery Communications and Eurosport have today unveiled their plans to transform the Olympic Winter Games viewing experience with the ‘Make it Yours’ editorial strategy across all screens set to deliver every minute for fans in Europe.

First fully digital Games for Europe

Eurosport will deliver the first fully digital Games for Europe, live and on-demand coverage across all screens in 48 markets*.

The interactive Eurosport Player will be the only place fans can watch every minute, every athlete and every sport – online, on mobile, tablet devices or connected TVs. More than 4,000 hours of coverage and 100 events will be available, including 900 hours of live action, more than ever before across the continent

Eurosport Player will give fans the chance to personalise and define their own Olympic experience. The new Make It Yours campaign, launching in November, will call on fans to take control of their Games experience and choose what they watch, when they watch and how they watch their favourite sports and local heroes.

Taking a new approach for a new generation, Discovery recently announced a first-of-its-kind Olympic Games partnership with Snap Inc in Europe**. At Games-time, the partnership will deliver user-generated and behind-the-scenes content from PyeongChang 2018 to Snapchat users in Europe.

Eurosport will have a dedicated mobile digital studio in PyeongChang and will work with some of the biggest digital influencers from across Europe, embedding them into editorial teams during the Games to co-create unique content for social media focused on engaging new and younger audiences. This represents another Olympic Games first for Europe.

Technology and innovation

Innovation will be at the forefront of Eurosport’s immersive coverage, utilizing the latest production technology, more data and 1,100 cameras to bring fans closer to the action.

A highlight will be the new “Eurosport Cube” studio, with action from PyeongChang brought to life through ground-breaking technology. An Olympic Games first, the Cube studio will use augmented reality and enhanced data to create an immersive and interactive environment, offering fans best-in-class analysis of the action.

As part of Eurosport’s series of up to 100 new and unique short form films, technology will be used to share a greater understanding of every winter sport. This first-of-its-kind content will give fans a new perspective on winter sports, allowing them to become the experts.

An example is Eurosport’s Sport Explainers: using augmented reality and data to create films that delve deeper into the technical explanations of winter sports, showing how the world’s best athletes win gold.

World class talent expertise and analysis

Eurosport’s global scale will bring more expertise, with in excess of 150 local experts and Olympians reporting on the action and bringing the fans closer to the athletes’ Olympic journey. The star-studded line-up includes numerous former athletes who have reached the pinnacle of their sport and whose names transcend their home markets.

Offering deeper analysis and the best insights, the unprecedented line-up currently features more than 150 winter sports expert talent and commentators, including 58 Olympians, with 151 Olympic Games, 75 Olympic Games medals and 28 Olympic Gold medals among them.

Jean-Briac Perrette, Discovery Networks International President and CEO, said: “PyeongChang 2018 marks the first Olympic Games of our ground-breaking long-term partnership with the International Olympic Committee.

“We want to redefine the Olympic Games experience for the viewer with immersive storytelling, unrivalled expert talent and an all-screen strategy reaching new and younger audiences. We know that viewers want more: more access to their local heroes, more expertise and more ways to watch the Olympic Games, and this is exactly what we are bringing to fans across Europe.”

Peter Hutton, CEO Eurosport, said: “Our leadership in sports broadcasting, combined with Discovery’s extensive presence and platforms, will bring local fans closer to the events and athletes that they love.

“Our world-first Eurosport Cube studio is a perfect example of this, using augmented reality and enhanced data to offer fans more informative analysis of the action. This will bring to life expert analysis in an interactive and immersive virtual world which has never been seen before at an Olympic Games.”

* Excludes France 2018-2020. Excludes Russia. Eurosport will be an Official Broadcaster in the UK 2018 and 2020.
** Excluding France and Russia
*** Working title