Web 2.0 meets the 2008 Olympic games. Check it out today!

The Silverlight enabled Olympics site unveiled at Mix last year has now gone live.  In this age of online community how do you take a well defined brand, like the Olympics, and make it relevant to that audience?  After all, most of us spend twice as much time online today than we do even turning on a TV.  This is what a nextgen web experience is all about – 2,200 hours of ondemand hd video, social networking aspects, and a great user experience that doesn’t let the technology get in the way.  It enables you to view the experience the Olympics in ways you never have before and on your own terms.

Let’s start by going to the NBCOlympics.com site itself:

Olympics - Main Site

To launch the Silverlight experience click on any of the event links on the page.  For now I am going to click on one of the “Watch Now” links at the top.

Olympics - Launch Player

You will see a new window open up that looks like your typical media player right?  This is where it gets interesting.  Click on the “Enhanced Player” link in the bottom right.

Olympics - Enhanced Player 

You will now be taken to a full screen application that will allow you to share the current video clips with friends, find out what other people are watching the most, see professional commentary and even watch videos with picture-in-picture.

Looks like track is pretty popular right now… 

Olympics - Most Watched

I can also explore some of the other events going on based on category.  Looks like there is a football (soccer for us crazy Americans) going on that I want to remember.  Let me share that clip to myself.

Olympics - Share

And here it comes in my inbox – a direct link to the video itself!  No need to dig through an entire site looking for the clip inside the player.  No need to go through a registration (LiveID *cough* *cough*) process.  It takes me right to the clip and even gets me the ability to search for similar clips.  This hits home with the way people ingest a lot of their content today – through sharing.  Whether its an email, a tweet, or an IM – it is the “hey – you got to check this out” that usually sparks the first visit to a site.

Olympics - Email

How about finding what kind of sport you are interested in?  Let’s check out Fencing…

Olympics - Categories PIP 

In fact I will chose Picture-in-Picture with the current football game I am watching and swap the Fencing video to the center.  Look at that full screen HD video?

Olympics - HD Video

 

Check it out for yourself today at NBCOlympics.com.

 

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