overage of a home Olympics was always going to be a landmark for the BBC and it had seven years to prepare for it, but even the most optimistic of the broadcaster’s executives can’t have predicated the overwhelmingly positive response to its production.
Helped of course by a national team that excelled on the track and field, the BBC nonetheless managed to capture and convey the feel-good tide that swept the UK during those two summer weeks, fully justifying its decision to embrace online distribution, radio and TV coverage on a mammoth scale. “One of the major take-aways was the enduring popularity and reach of the really big moments like the Opening Ceremony [which 27m people watched live in the UK] and Usain Bolt’s 100 metre title [watched live by 20m],” says Barbara Slater, BBC director of sport. “In terms of the BBC offering, in addi- tion to the multiple streams there remains a demand by people to have a produced programme with expert commentary, creativity in presentation, analysis and back stories. I would caution against a shift away from the integrated feed that BBC1 provided.
“At the same time, people wanted to personalise their experience in many different ways. We were determined to tell every story and although audiences to some of our 24 dedicated streamed channels may have been small in comparison to the flagship TV channels, cumulatively they were still very strong.” Indeed usage of connected devices during the Olympics was staggering with almost 25m unique browsers accessing the BBC Sport website in the UK across the first full week of the Games with an unprecedented reach of 22m for the 'never miss a moment' red button offer. Some 75m video requests spanned the BBC Sport website and iPlayer. The combination of shared events and the ability of viewers to pick and choose their own moments will be a template for sports broadcasts for years to come. Sport is in Slater’s blood. She competed for Great Britain at the 1976 Montreal Olympics as a gymnast, joining the BBC in 1983 as a trainee assistant producer in the Natural History Unit but spending most of her career as a producer in BBC Television Sport. She rose through the ranks from assistant
The combination of shared events and the ability of viewers to choose their own moments will be a template for sports broadcasts to come
Barbara Slater Director of Sport, BBC
Region: UK
produce the Games on home soil, a feeling felt across the board not just by management.” “One of the great successes was bringing a new level of collaboration in the way individual BBC teams operated together. Everyone, no matter their role, was determined to give of their best. From the team behind the 24 streams, to an assistant producer in VT, a commen- tator at water polo, to those in our radio studio or writing live text for the web, it was a fabulous team production.” Slater reserves special commendation
for the production teams who also had the added pressure of relocating their base to Salford, the new home of BBC Sport. “In addition to the IBC operation we
couldn’t have put together such an ambitious production without our new base with its tapeless HD infrastructure and interconnected platforms that enabled us, for example, to edit in Strat- ford and log in Salford,” she says. Slater is already looking forward to Sochi, Rio and the Olympics in 2020 safe in the knowledge of the BBC’s renewed contract with the IOC, but her sights are also set on the Common- wealth Games in 2014, in Glasgow - another home grown multi-disciplinary event which could yet yield similar national enthusiasm. There were experiments too, chief among them 3D and Super Hi-Vision which met with varying reaction. “While access to an unprecedented range and breadth of Olympic sport grabbed the headlines, 3D was a little sidelined,” she says. “We are proud of the opportunity to show some 3D coverage but it was not something that really resonated.” Super Hi-Vision on the other hand
reportedly wowed audiences at public screenings.
producer to senior producer to head of production, specialising in outside broadcasts.
“2012 was a massive year overseen by Roger Mosey, BBC Director 2012. Aside from the main event there was the cultural Olympiad, the Queen’s Jubilee
and all the Olympic warm up program- ming. Sport’s role was to make sure we got the event coverage right,” she explains. “There was an absolute require- ment to do justice to the event. “We felt it was a privilege to be in a position where we had the opportunity to
“It made you think - My goodness, I am seeing the future of broadcasting,” she says. “It is incredibly early days for Super Hi-Vision. The amount of available kit is very small but the tests carried out during the Games were an opportunity to see what this technology can deliver. I wouldn’t want to speculate how long it will take to become a mainstream option. “There is an absolute merit in 3D especially with the development of autostereoscopic screens, but long term it will be interesting to see to which of those formats the industry will go.” AP