In order to expand its audience, NBC is partnering with YouTube to deliver content from the 2012 London Olympics.
TheNextWeb reports that no content from the games will actually appear on the YouTube, but Google's video platform will host livestreams of everything from archery to the decathlon on NBCOlympics.com.
NBC explained on its advertising site for the Olympics that it plans "to deliver the most extensive 2012 Olympics content to viewers, including – for the first time ever – all events streamed live. That's right, you'll be able to watch up to 3,000 hours of live streaming covering all 302 Gold Medals and every event in between."
NBC Sports Group's vice president of communications Chris McCloskey told PCMag that YouTube is a "technology and promotional partner." Essentially, YouTube provides the technology for the video player on NBCOlympics.com. Some branding on YouTube's homepage will send viewers to the NBC domain, which will feature Web exclusives, athlete interviews, exclusive daily segments about the 2012 games, as well as all of the content broadcasted on traditional TV.
TheNextWeb noted that Comcast (which owns NBC Universal) owns the broadcast rights to the Olympic Games through 2020, so it has been selling more than $900 million in advertising in order to recoup its investment. That means it is going to try to show more Olympic coverage in more places.
Through a partnership with Panasonic, NBC will also show some of the games in 3D, provided of course, that the viewer has a 3D-capable television. Last month, the BBC also announced that it will broadcast selected events – the opening and closing ceremonies, the men's 100m dash, and daily highlights – in 3D.
With the Olympics about four months away, the London Olympic organizers have warned that the games might result in an Internet slowdown. And earlier this year, Google significantly improved its Maps capability for the United Kingdom in advance of the games, adding 170,000 train journeys and over 2,500 stations across Great Britain.
In other YouTube news, the company this week added image previews to its videos, allowing you to see thumbnails of the action as you scroll forward in a particular video.