Category Archives: Macro Trends

New TV Channel to Showcase Minority Sports – Financial Times

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Minority sports have struck gold in the wake of London 2012 with a new free-to-air TV channel being lined up to give them increased coverage. London Legacy TV – which has the backing of Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London – will focus on sports that get little airtime between the Olympic Games every four years.

Backers of the station, which will launch on Sky initially, say it will showcase the sports at all levels, from grass roots to elite standard. Highflyer TV, which is developing the station, launched the Racing UK channel and has experience of covering sports such as swimming, diving, fencing and cycling.
John Fairley, chairman of Highflyer Group, said: “The London Olympics has brilliantly demonstrated the huge desire among the British public to watch sports which don’t normally get the showcase on British TV that they deserve.

“London Legacy TV will satisfy the appetite to see more of these sports that the Olympics has created, as well as encouraging people to take part in them.”

Full article:
Olympics Closing Ceremony Shades Danny Boyle Opener With 23.2m – The Guardian – August 20th, 2012
By John Plunkett
Link to Financial Times article

To the Victors, the Spoils: Olympians Become the New Fashion Ambassadors – The Guardian

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Brands such as Louis Vuitton, Puma and Fred Perry hope to cash in on the success of 2012 medallists

Their Olympic glory may now be over, but the stars of London 2012 are enjoying a new spotlight – as fashion’s latest darlings. Images of Michael Phelps in the latest advertising campaign for Louis Vuitton’s Core Values range were released on Thursday (16 August) and show Phelps sporting a three-piece suit and sharing a cup of tea with the previous greatest Olympian of all time, Ukranian gymnast Larisa Latynina. It’s a long way from swimming caps, goggles and Speedos.

Fashion and sport alliances look likely to continue in this vein in the aftermath of London 2012. Retiree Gold medallist cyclist Victoria Pendleton recently confessed a dream to model for Burberry. “I’ve been invited a couple of times [to shows] by Burberry,” she told Vogue.com. “I haven’t been able to go because of my training schedule and I literally cried when I found out that it wasn’t possible.”

Such passion for fashion ran throughout the Olympic village. Heptathlete Jessica Ennis talked of a post-gold shopping trip to Selfridges, and is a fan of designers including Alexander McQueen and Victoria Beckham, while swimming ace Ryan Lochte will have a cameo in the new series of fashion plate TV show, 90210 and is friends with catwalk model Karlie Kloss. Over in gymnastics, Team GB’s Louis Smith and American Gabby Douglas have both expressed an interest in working in fashion, with Douglas standing out for her fashion-friendly outfit – high wedges, hot pink miniskirt and digital print vest – when the US female gymnastics team appeared on Letterman. Smith, with his striking facial hair and quiff, currently stars in the Adidas Take the Stage campaign, and Douglas has signed an endorsement deal with Proctor & Gamble, the parent company that own Covergirl cosmetics and Olay.

Full article:
To the Victors, the Spoils: Olympians Become the New Fashion Ambassadors – The Guardian – August 20th, 2012
By Lauren Cochrane
Link to Guardian article

Olympics Closing Ceremony Shades Danny Boyle Opener With 23.2m – The Guardian

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It may not have attracted the plaudits of Danny Boyle’s acclaimed Olympics opener but the closing ceremony to the London 2012 Games proved an even bigger hit on the small screen with more than 23 million viewers.

The Olympics bowed out with a total average audience of 23.2 million viewers between 9pm on Sunday and the early hours of Monday morning.

This included 22.9 million viewers, a huge 80.7% share, who were watching on BBC1, with another 202,000 glued to one of the BBC’s dedicated Olympics channels, BBC Olympics 1, and 83,000 watching in 3D on BBC HD.

Full article:
Olympics Closing Ceremony Shades Danny Boyle Opener With 23.2m – The Guardian – August 13th, 2012
By John Plunkett
Link to Guardian article

Brazilian Apathy For London Olympics – The Financial Times

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The lacklustre public interest for the London Olympics comes in spite of Brazil having fought hard to win the right for Rio de Janeiro to host the next games in 2016. “Brazilians would rather watch a novella than the Olympics,” one company manager remarked. He has to install two televisions in the office for staff during the Football World Cup to ensure they came to work but not during the Olympics.

Rio will also have its work cut out for 2016. Half the games will be held in an area known as Barra in the city’s remote north-west, far from the famous neighbourhoods of Ipanema and Copacabana.

Full article:
Brazilian Apathy For London Olympics – The Financial Times – August 12th, 2012 By Joe Leahy
Link to Financial Times article

British Newspapers Bid Farewell to the Summer Games – The Hollywood Reporter

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With headlines like “Goldbye” and “We’re World Beaters…Dream GB,” the tabloids and others celebrate the country’s big medal haul and the successful Olympics.

The British newspapers on Monday morning bid their farewell to the London 2012 Summer Olympics with front pages that lauded the successful organization of the Games and the big medal haul for Great Britain.

The country celebrated 65 medals overall, including 29 gold, 17 silver and 19 bronze medals. That ranked it third behind the U.S. and China, but ahead of Russia when ranking based on gold medals. Russia won 82 total medals.

Full article:
British Newspapers Bid Farewell to the Summer Games – The Hollywood Reporter – August 13th, 2012
By Georg Szalai
Link to The Hollywood Reporter article

Why the Olympics Needs Its Unsung Heroes – The Financial Times

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One of the indelible images of the London Olympic Games took place on the podium in the athletics stadium. Not Usain Bolt and Mo Farah posing together at the end of the final night of athletics competition on Saturday, but last Monday, when Felix Sanchez stepped up to receive gold for the 400m hurdles.

It had the makings of a run-of-the-mill presentation to just another track and field gold medallist. Aged 34 and competing in his fourth Olympics, Sanchez was not even collecting his first Olympic gold.

But on climbing the podium, Sanchez wept buckets. The crowd, seeing the Dominican totally overcome, let out a roar mixing affection and admiration.

Full article:
Why the Olympics Needs Its Unsung Heroes – The Financial Times – August 12th, 2012
By Roger Blitz
Link to Financial Times article

Usain Bolt 200m Storms To More Than 15 Million Viewers – The Guardian

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More than 15 million viewers watched Usain Bolt clinch his historic gold medal in the men’s 200m Olympic final on Thursday. Bolt, who became the first man ever to retain the 100m and 200m Olympic titles, drew a five-minute peak audience of 15.4 million viewers at 9pm.

This included 14.9 million viewers, a 57.8% share, watching on BBC1, and 490,000 on BBC Olympics 1.

Full article:
Usain Bolt 200m Storms To More Than 15 Million Viewers – The Guardian – August 9th, 2012
By John Plunkett
Link to Guardian article

Olympic Star Gabrielle Douglas Can Smile, All the Way to the Bank – Los Angeles Times

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Gabrielle Douglas can’t keep her smile away, not when she’s doing a complicated sequence of leaps and somersaults on the balance beam, not when she giggles and says she’d like to get an Acura NSX Roadster — “Just like the one in ‘The Avengers’” — and especially not when she’s collecting something else that shines.

Those two new Olympic gold medals.

Douglas, a 16-year-old from Virginia Beach, Va., who did not come from a life of privilege but from a background in which her single mother has struggled to pay the mortgage on a condominium, will leave London not only with her medals but with the opportunity to become a millionaire. Thanks to those golds. And that smile.

Though Douglas failed to win a medal in her final event Tuesday, finishing seventh on the balance beam, she is still the first American to win team and all-around gold in the same Olympics.

Full article:
Olympic Star Gabrielle Douglas Can Smile, All the Way to the Bank – Los Angeles Times – August 7, 2012
By Diane Pucin
Link to Los Angeles Times article

Heat Was on Lolo Jones, and She Got Burned – Los Angeles Times

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In the end, the most hyped Olympian was also the most alone. Lolo Jones finished the 100-meter hurdles in a desperate lunge, stood by the finish line staring up at an Olympic Stadium scoreboard that registered a fourth-place finish and then slowly walked away.

She didn’t stick around to congratulate the two medal-winning Americans, both of whom had questioned her enormous pre-race publicity. She didn’t hang out to schmooze with fans who have increasingly questioned her sincerity. The cloudy and cool London skies broke into a steady drizzle as she walked into a tunnel and fought back tears. “I guess all the people who were talking about me, they can have their night and laugh about me,” she said.

It’s a nasty business, this Olympic star-making machine. These athletes have one chance every four years to rake in the real gold, the endorsement and appearance money that helps compensate them for years of training. Most agree they would be fools to turn down that chance to capitalize on their success and enhance the quality of their often budget-strained lives.

Full article:
Olympic Hospitality Houses Open Doors for Patriots and Promoters – The Guardian – August 7, 2012
By Lizzy Davies and Esther Addley
Link to Los Angeles Times article

For Lolo Jones, Everything Is Image – The New York Times

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Judging from this year’s performances, Lolo Jones seems to have only a slim chance of winning an Olympic medal in the 100-meter hurdles and almost no possibility of winning gold.

Still, Jones has received far greater publicity than any other American track and field athlete competing in the London Games. This was based not on achievement but on her exotic beauty and on a sad and cynical marketing campaign. Essentially, Jones has decided she will be whatever anyone wants her to be — vixen, virgin, victim — to draw attention to herself and the many products she endorses.

Women have struggled for decades to be appreciated as athletes. For the first time at these Games, every competing nation has sent a female participant. But Jones is not assured enough with her hurdling or her compelling story of perseverance. So she has played into the persistent, demeaning notion that women are worthy as athletes only if they have sex appeal. And, too often, the news media have played right along with her.

Full article:
For Lolo Jones, Everything Is Image – The New York Times – August 4, 2012
By JERÉ LONGMAN
Link to The New York Times article

Sir Chris Hoy Draws More Than 10m Viewers for Sixth Olympic Gold – The Guardian

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More than 10 million viewers tuned in to BBC channels to watch Sir Chris Hoy collect a record-breaking sixth gold medal during the final night of London 2012 Olympic competition on the cycling track on Tuesday.

Laura Trott’s second cycling gold of the 2012 London Game attracted 8.2 million, while Victoria Pendleton’s last ever Olympic ride drew 9.4 million.

However, the BBC’s biggest five-minute peak audience on Tuesday came later in the evening, with 12.1 million watching Australian Sally Pearson take gold in the women’s 110m hurdles.

The biggest five-minute peak audience for the cycling was the 9.8 million who watched Hoy’s emotional ceremony from 6.30pm after the 36-year-old won the keirin, which put him ahead of Sir Steve Redgrave as the British Olympian with the most gold medals.

Full article:
Sir Chris Hoy Draws More Than 10m Viewers for Sixth Olympic Gold – The Guardian – August 8, 2012
By Mark Sweney
Link to The Guardian article

Chris Hoy becomes Britain’s Greatest Olympian with Sixth Gold – The Guardian

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Sir Chris Hoy may continue to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 but his sixth career gold medal in the keirin motorpaced sprint in the Pringle marked the end of an Olympic career which has underpinned the success of British cyclists over four Games, from Sydney to London, in which time he has grown into a senior figure within the squad, an iconic role model and target for youngsters such as Jason Kenny, Philip Hindes and many others.

Hoy’s victory in the keirin means he exits Olympic sport as Britain’s most successful medallist, with six golds to his name, surpassing Sir Steve Redgrave and drawing level with Bradley Wiggins on a career total of seven, although the cycling Modfather has “only” four golds to his name. This leaves GB’s track cycling team with seven gold medals, one silver and one bronze from the 10 track events, a picture of all-round domination that matches the triumph in Beijing.

Full article:
Chris Hoy becomes Britain’s Greatest Olympian with Sixth Gold – The Guardian – August 7, 2012
By William Fotheringham
Link to The Guardian article

With Live Streaming and New Technology, BBC Tries to Be Everywhere at the Olympics – New York Times

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While some American television viewers are grumbling about the retro feel to NBC’s London Olympics coverage, with tape-delayed broadcasts of the opening ceremony and other events, audiences in Britain are getting a more contemporary — even futuristic — TV Games.

There, BBC is providing marathon coverage — 2,500 hours of programming during the more than two weeks of the Games. At the touch of a button on their remote controls, viewers can choose among as many as 24 live feeds of various events, whether basketball or fencing.

“We wanted to give people every venue, from first thing in the morning to last thing at night,” said Roger Mosey, director of BBC’s Olympics coverage.

Full article:
With Live Streaming and New Technology, BBC Tries to Be Everywhere at the Olympics – New York Times – August 5, 2012
By ERIC PFANNER
Link to New York Times article

NBC’s Coverage in London Is Becoming a Rating Success With a Shot at a Profit – New York Times

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Critics of NBC’s coverage of the London Olympics have voiced sometimes brutal commentary on Twitter using the hashtag #NBCFail, but with one week left in its comprehensive, multiple-platform coverage, NBC’s own take is that its programming is a success. Ratings are up over what had been an impressive performance in 2008 in Beijing, and a predicted loss of $200 million or more has been turned around to a cautious prediction of a possible small profit.

Mark Lazarus, the chairman of NBC Sports Group, said in a conference call last week, “We think there’s a small chance that we could make a little bit of money.”

Full article:
NBC’s Coverage in London Is Becoming a Rating Success With a Shot at a Profit – New York Times – August 5, 2012
By BILL CARTER
Link to New York Times article

They Win Gold, but a Pot of It Rarely Follows – New York Times

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Vincent Hancock won gold in skeet shooting here this week, missing just 2 of 150 targets in the competition. It was an extraordinary performance and unprecedented, too. Hancock prevailed in the same event in Beijing in 2008, making him the first skeet shooter to successfully defend his Olympic title.

The man is a superstar in his sport. So what riches await this impeccably mannered, 23-year-old Army sergeant when he returns home? What companies are lining up to write sponsorship checks? What signs are there that his life is about to change?

“None, really,” he said in an interview on Wednesday. “I’ll try to go after some of the higher-profile companies in November, once I leave the military. But I’m not going to get greedy. I’ll be thankful for anything I’m given.”

Full article:
They Win Gold, but a Pot of It Rarely Follows – New York Times – August 3, 2012
By DAVID SEGAL
Link to New York Times article