Elmo Wants to Get Young Sports Fans Excited for the Olympics
By Movieguide® Contributor
Friends of SESAME STREET stopped by the TODAY show to share their excitement to join NBC Sports’ coverage of the Paris Olympic Games.
“[Elmo is] very excited to go to Paris to cheer on all the athletes at the Olympics,” Elmo told TODAY. “And Elmo is also excited to do a little sightseeing. Elmo can’t wait to get an eyeful of the Tower. Get it? Eyeful Tower! Paris, here we come! Gooooo teams!”
“Me love sports almost as much as me love cookies!” added Cookie Monster. “Me so excited about all da events, but especially da discus throw. Dat one really look[s] delicious.”
The inclusion of the SESAME STREET stars comes as NBC looks to reinvigorate interest in the Games through a revamped approach to its coverage. While previous iterations of the Olympics have been hosted by the network’s normal news anchors, this year’s coverage is set to be hosted by big-name celebrities such as Peyton Manning, Kelly Clarkson, Mike Tirico, Snoop Dogg and Jimmy Fallon. NBC hopes this will help draw in an audience larger than just sports fans.
With the new addition of Elmo and friends, it appears NBC also plans on bringing in a younger audience through a slew of child-friendly faces. The people behind SESAME STREET also believe the Games teach lessons that will be valuable for those who tune in.
“The Olympics celebrates the best in sportsmanship and promotes kindness and respect, traits that are central to our mission to help children grow smarter, stronger, and kinder to build a better world,” said SESAME STREET chief marketing and brand officer Samantha Maltin.
NBC is also looking to appeal to teens and young adults by bringing on popular influencers and social media stars to host a variety of shows set to appear as a part of the streaming coverage of the Games on Peacock.
“Everything we’ve done has been started from scratch,” said Jenny Storms, chief marketing officer of entertainment and sports for NBCUniversal. “It’s been an exercise in bravery, taking something you have done for so long and starting as if you’ve never done it before.”
Movieguide® previously reported:
NBCUniversal will add some new features to Peacock for Summer Olympics fans.
“New features of note are Live Actions and Discovery Multiview, which is aimed at helping viewers find and engage more deeply with Olympic programming,” Deadline reported.
“The former lets viewers select events during live and primetime coverage and create their own feed comprised of only the sports they are interested in seeing. During live coverage, viewers can either keep watching live or stay with ‘whip-around’ coverage. In the social media era, the time-tested whip-around approach has come under scrutiny given that results are often known, sapping coverage of drama,” Deadline said.
Peacock will cover over 5,000 hours of live footage at the game in Paris from July 26 to Aug. 11. NBCUniversal hopes the enhanced features draw more viewers to its platform.
- Content: +1Share:
- Content: +1