Sports fans don't need to travel to Rio de Janeiro this summer or stay glued to their TVs at all times for all Olympic-related coverage. All they really need is to check out Snapchat.
NBC recently announced it is partnering up with Snapchat to release Olympic highlights on the social media app. As part of the deal, Snapchat will release Live Stories daily that will spotlight content from fans attending, as well as behind-the-scenes action.
Snapchat is also teaming up with BuzzFeed to release Olympic videos via a dedicated channel in the Discover section of the app. These will include the best moments from the Games in Rio de Janeiro, clips from inside the venues and videos that feature both athletes and fans.
Coverage will start with the U.S. Olympics Team Trials, and continue to feature the 2016 Summer Games.
This is not the first time Snapchat entered into sports collaborations. It has partnerships with MLB and NFL that bring behind-the-scenes exclusives during games to the platform. However, the partnership with NBC means that Snapchat will actually get the green light to feature actual footage from the 2016 Games.
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Snapchat won't be the only social media platform that will air Olympics footage. NBC will not keep this an exclusive deal, and is working on landing similar deals with Facebook and Twitter. Airing Olympic coverage through social media will tap in to a younger audience base, while also providing a source of added revenue in video ads.
NBCUniversal invested $200 million in BuzzFeed last year, with Snapchat being a great platform to release content on since it has more than 100 million daily users and 10 billion daily video views.
NBC Sports also released exclusive content from the Kentucky Derby on Snapchat. This included everything from the fashion to the actual race. The event was also covered in the "Live" section of the Discover feature, and Snapchat also released a hat filter for users celebrating the event.
We assume that Snapchat will release lots of Olympic filters when the Games begin on Friday, Aug. 5.
Photo: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport | Flickr
