UX of the Olympics

Is anyone else favorite time of the year when the Olympics are on? Even though they take place in Tokyo and a complete different time zone where somethings are not live, it’s a great time to live in the digital age where it’s easy to always stay up to date with specific sports competitions and the standings of where countries are at with olympic medals.

According to IOC Director of Digital Engagement and Marketing Christopher Carroll, “Tokyo 2020 will be the most connected Olympic Games ever” (2). Despite technology always changing, covid has also played a big role in the online engagement with the olympics due to the pandemic restricting spectators to attend events. It’s to be said that the key to UX for the olympics is to “focus on the user needs, and not the almighty dollar, don’t make your users have to jump through hoops to access your content, and content is king” (1). If that were to follow through, as a fan, it should be able to maintain the top priorities due having the world wanting to check in. It should be easy to know when the big name athletes are competing, and if watching live events isn’t an option on the television, there should be other live steam connections. The olympics should make it easy to follow along and to keep up to date, such as the NBC app allowing notifications to pop up when medals are won or specific news happens (1).

Ways to feel like you’re at the olympics is the experience of VR using 360 videos and photos in which you’re able to see crazy angles as if you’re actually there. Along with the news updates, it’s always a great feeling to be able to look back on or watch interviews of athletes to be able to see and feel their emotion whether it’s just the gratitude of being at the olympics, advancing on to the next round, winning a gold medal or placing in the top 10, and even seeing those crushed to missing the goal they wanted (1).

The olympics bring a lot of this to life in numerous ways, especially by partnering with well known brands. Such as, Samsung, P&G, Toyota, Visa, Discovery, and social media platforms; instagram, Facebook, twitter, Snapchat, and Youtube (2).

Even though it may seem like it’s always greatest there’s always room for improvement with UX, and the Tokyo Olympics is just the beginning due to the restrictions (1).

 

 

 

 

References:

[1] https://medium.com/@jslims/the-ux-of-the-olympics-782eedac335c

[2] https://olympics.com/ioc/news/fans-to-enjoy-innovative-digital-experiences-for-tokyo-2020