Social platforms help pandemic games shine

TOKYO >> A condom fixed Jessica Fox’s canoe, and skateboarder Jagger Eaton celebrated his bronze medal by broadcasting live on Instagram. Margielyn Didal “let” Tony Hawk take a picture with her to post on Facebook.

The stability of the cardboard framed beds in the athlete’s village has been tested by Olympians who treated them as trampolines on nearly every social media platform, and a Greek water polo player created a dating app — which might have come in handy for American rugby player Ilona Maher, who rolled with the schtick of the “Thirsty Olympian.”

The made-to-watch Tokyo Games, where pandemic precautions prevent permitting spectators, have become a digital affair more than ever. From social media to streaming, athletes and their events are reaching the public in recordsmashing and trailblazing ways.

More than 100 million unique users had visited Olympic digital platforms or used the Tokyo 2020 app through the first week of the games. U.S. rightsholder NBC has notched 2.5 billion streaming minutes of Olympics content across all its digital platforms, the network said, a 77% increase from the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games. The first week in Tokyo was the highest-ever weekly usage for streaming platform Peacock.

But it’s the social media platforms that are causing the breakout buzz. Social posts by Olympics accounts on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Weibo generated 3.7 billion engagements. The Olympics’ social media accounts have a combined total of 75 million followers.

Then there is the TikTok phenomenon. Launched in 2017, the short-form, videosharing app has been one of the preferred social media platforms of these games.

Athletes you’d never heard about before Tokyo — particularly those from niche sports — have used TikTok to capture moments that have not only gone viral but became the avenue to introduce themselves to the world.

Karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing — all sports that resonate with a younger demographic — certainly helped drive traffic to TikTok.

The podium winners in women’s street skateboarding were 13, 13 and 16 years old, and silver medalist Rayssa Leal of Brazil has 3.4 million followers on TikTok, half of her 6.5 million followers on Instagram.