No numbers (or medal awards yet) when it comes to mobile Olympics uptake

The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing were touted as a potential springboard for mobile video, an event that could help push the application beyond early adopters and gadget geeks and into the mainstream.
So how’d it do? Nobody knows. Or, more accurately, anyone who does isn’t talking . yet.
AT&T Mobility was the lone U.S. carrier to offer live video from the games thanks to an exclusive deal with NBC, which owned broadcast rights for the event across all platforms in the United States. And MobiTV offered subscribers a dedicated channel for NBC Sports coverage from Beijing.
But neither AT&T Mobility nor MobiTV would discuss uptake of their video offerings – neither, in fact, returned inquires from RCR Wireless News. MediaFLO USA Inc., which powered AT&T Mobility’s service, also declined to discuss how many viewers tuned into the games, but VP of Programming Mike Bailey said the company “was extremely pleased with the results and performance” of its Olympics channel.
“Mobile consumers responded enthusiastically to all of the great sports drama and record-breaking performances,” Bailey said in a carefully crafted e-mail. “In every regard, this event was incredibly successful and we are continually working with all of our content providers to offer new and unique programming to the expanding mobile TV market.”
Much of the lack of transparency in mobile is the fact that the industry has yet to develop real-time measurement systems, said Nicholas Covey, director of insights for Nielsen Mobile.
“Largely, the mobile industry right now is not like the television or online industries where you get overnight ratings,” Covey explained. “Mobile is generally measured in 3-day increments.”
There is some anecdotal evidence, however, that mobile users really were watching the games on their phones. Reuters reported that China Mobile delivered more than 300,000 hours of video programming to 1 million viewers during the 16-day event. And NBC said nearly 1 million people visited its mobile Web site or retrieved mobile video-on-demand during the first weekend of the Olympics.
And it appears the Olympics might have been fertile ground for mobile video. Not only were the games well-suited for the medium – given the overwhelming breadth of content and the drastic difference in time zones – fans reported interest in keeping up with the competitions in a pre-event poll by Nielsen Mobile, with 45% of American mobile video users planning to watch the games on their phones.
Figures regarding uptake of mobile video are likely to trickle out over the next few weeks, of course, as measurement firms complete their surveys and bill-scraping services (such as Nielsen Mobile’s) have a chance to crunch the numbers. But while the Olympics have been termed a “watershed” event by some onlookers, it more likely will be just another leg – if a substantial one – on the rocky path toward mainstream media for mobile video.
“I don’t think that a single event will lead somebody to go change their phone from one carrier to another, or to change their service package,” Covey opined. “But I think a series of major media events – like the Olympics, the (presidential) election, the upcoming football season – these are the things that have the potential” to spur uptake.