Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics & Glasgow Commonwealth Games

Delivering Video, Apps and TENplay integration for the Sochi Winter Olympics and Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

The Client

Network Ten is a leading national Australian free-to-air television network that broadcasts channels TEN, ONE and ELEVEN. The Network is popularly known as the home of Australia’s ‘big event’ TV moments. It features local and international shows including hit dramas, light entertainment, comedy, documentaries, news, sport and current affairs.

Network Ten has branched into the Internet connected viewer space via TENplay, a multiplatform catch up TV and video portal that includes the most popular TEN, ONE and ELEVEN shows. Ten’s live events strategy in 2014 was to deliver more big sporting moments to people anywhere, anytime and on any device.

The Challenge

Network Ten required a fully managed app build for the XXII Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, and for the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow they required enhancements to the TENplay app to support a sports hub. Complete with content streaming, athlete info, results information and medal tally, tied together with a TV Guide service, the TENplay apps would be focused on providing a first class multi-screen, multi-platform consumer content experience designed with the end user as the top priority.

Live TV content was to be a mix of Ten and One HD curated broadcasts, plus there would be six additional streams delivered from both Sochi and Glasgow. Catch up content would need to be created from these linear streams with bookmarks to highlight key moments of each event. The International Broadcast Centre in Sochi and Glasgow would provide a range of data including results, schedules and medal tallies, which Network Ten required for the apps, websites and on-screen graphics for the broadcast.

“Working with Switch Media, we are able to offer Australians a viewing and engagement experience like no other for the XX Commonwealth Games, as we did for the XXII Winter Olympic Games from Sochi, Russia, in February. We are confident our digital coverage of Glasgow Games will be an outstanding success, as the Sochi 2014 On Ten App has been from the day it was launched.”

Rebekah Horne

Network Ten’s Chief Digital Officer

Switch Media’s Role

Switch Media was the key professional services and app builder for Network Ten’s Sochi Games coverage, and assisted with the TENplay advancement of a sports hub, allowing TEN to capture more users as a login was needed to watch Glasgow. Central to the solution was Switch Media’s cloud based video content management system, the Switch Media Manager, which delivered an 8 linear channel mosaic that operated across Android and iOS devices:

  • Transcoding the broadcast feeds to deliver online video
  • Building and controlling the Sochi 2014 Ten App
  • Integration with Network Ten’s existing online video platform to publish to TENplay devices
  • Delivery of event and player stats to online and FTA broadcast

Using the Switch Media Manager, editorial users were able to mark the start and end point of any video to create bookmarks throughout the event stream allowing viewers to jump to key moments in a particular sporting event, with the time to publish being a few minutes from each event finishing.

Project Outcomes & ROI

XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi, Russia: There were more than 160,000 downloads of the Sochi 2014 On Ten app, with 1.43 million video views, 3.1 million page views, and 560,000 unique visitors on www.tenplay.com.au. The average prime time audience was 789,000 on TEN and ONE, reaching 11.7 million capital city viewers and 4.8 million regional viewers, which lifted Network Ten’s prime time audience by 18% in total people, and boosted ONE’s prime time audience by 207% in total people.

XX Commonwealth Games, Glasgow, Scotland: 1.6 million video views, 4 million page views, and 718,000 unique visitors on www.tenplay.com.au. In late July to early August 2014 ONE posted it’s biggest weekly audience ever for any multi-channel, reaching 10.3 million people and 4.8 million 25 to 54s, lifting ONE’s prime-time audience by 194% in total people.

Thanks to the huge successes of the 2014 Games coverage, in 2015 Switch Media has again partnered with Network Ten to deliver five additional live streams for their Formula One racing tournament online coverage.

Project Summary

  • Online delivery of 8 live streams, including TEN, ONE and 6 additional channels direct from Sochi/Glasgow
  • Live to VOD trimming and publishing capability with fast turnaround
  • EPG tool providing the ability to easily manage and change the broadcast schedule at any time
  • In-stream ad replacement with custom VAST-compliant ads with a ‘Learn more’ click-through capability
  • Reporting, monitoring and analytics capability