• Portfolio, Thursday, August 21, 2008 12:45 PM

While NBC touts the success of NBCOlympics.com, comScore reveals that competitor Yahoo Sports, which has its own dedicated Olympics Web site, generated 1.3 million more visitors than NBC in the first three days of the Games. That's pretty embarrassing for NBC, says Portfolio, considering that Yahoo doesn't offer video of any of the events (NBC secured the distribution rights by paying more than $1 billion). Indeed, all Yahoo has on offer is news and analysis, and it still managed to beat NBC.

Meanwhile, there have been plenty of complaints about NBCOlympics.com. For starters, the video player, Microsoft's Silverlight technology, isn't available on computers with firewalls. That usually means no access at work. The most popular sports also aren't streamed on the Web until after they air on NBC, which is usually tape-delayed. Many clips of lower profile events are streamed without accompanying commentary, and the overall video quality is often poor.

Nevertheless, Portfolio says, NBC is proudly touting its 830.1 million page views, 56.1 million video streams and 38.9 million users. "These record numbers validate our multiplatform strategy," says Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics. "They drive viewers to share in the Olympic experience on network television in record numbers. And as a result of this unprecedented digital effort, consumers have a destination to watch thousands of hours of video and relive the great moments of these Olympics."

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