The TivOlympics

The 2006 Winter Games marks the first time that digital video recorders will be used in substantial numbers to watch portions of the Olympics. Both TiVo and NBC could capitalize on viewers recording events televised at odd hours to widen the viewing audience.

For example, the first USA women's hockey game is on at 3 a.m. Saturday here on the West Coast, which means that only the chemically enhanced are likely to be watching. Many events are on in the early morning hours, so NBC should encourage people to record them, and have special promotions tied to viewers watching the commercials in between.

NBC could offer a trip to NYC and extra role on Law and Order for people who pick up the "clues" embedded in ads, which would require people not to use the fast forward feature. TiVo is offering an online programming guide to help people to schedule their DVRs via the Internet, but they could use TV ads to reinforce that recording events is the only method of making sure you don't miss the Skeleton or Luge events.

NBC is delivering some news to mobile phones, but they should have partnered with iTunes to sell downloads of the games. Perhaps their contract with the Olympic Committee prevents any other distribution method, but they should have a plan for making webcasts and downloads essential parts of their strategy.

Speaking of sports marketing, I received an email from MLB.com offering the latest album from Train, which included links to an interview with the band from the MLB studios. Paraphrasing Steven Colbert, a tip of the cap to MLB for trying to find revenue streams during the off-season by presenting a band that may be of interest to me, but a wag of the finger because there is no baseball-related tie-in whatsoever.