Phelps, Hamm Emerging as Most Talked-About Athletes Heading Into Beijing

By Dow Jones Insight Staff

The opening of the Beijing Olympic Games is just over six weeks away, and, in many sports, the selection of the competitors has yet to begin. But coverage of some athletes is already well under way. Michael Phelps, who won six gold medals at the Athens Games in 2004, is one of the names garnering a significant amount of coverage, according to analysis conducted on Dow Jones Insight. Phelps, who is shaping up as one of the “faces of the Games” in the U.S., was a popular topic in the social media (blogs and boards). During the period spanning May 17 to June 17, Phelps had 104 mentions, or 25% of total mentions of the top athletes being tracked . Phelps wasn’t as popular a target in the traditional media (print and online) on a percentage share basis, accounting for 19% of all mentions of the top 10 athletes, or 844 mentions.

Gymnast Paul Hamm garnered the most coverage in the traditional media, with 1,012 mentions, or 23%. Coverage of Hamm spiked during the period of May 19-25, after he broke his hand at the U.S. National Championship. Hamm, the all-around gold medalist in Athens, announced he will be unable to compete in the Olympic trials but has petitioned to be placed directly on the team. In contrast, Hamm received very little coverage in social media, with only 28 mentions, or 7%.

Based on their success in the Athens Games, Phelps and Hamm each head into the Beijing Games with significant sponsorship and endorsement deals already in place.

Despite the fact that the Olympic trials for track and field have yet to take place, sprinter Jeremy Wariner has received a significant amount of coverage in the social media; his 88 mentions were second to Phelps. He has also received some coverage in the traditional media, with 535 mentions, or 12%.

Among non-U.S. athletes being tracked, British marathoner Paula Radcliffe received the most coverage in the press and on blogs, with 727 and 75 mentions, respectively. Other non-U.S. athletes being tracked, including Chinese diver Guo Jingjing and Australian swimmers Leisel Jones and Cate Campbell, have received scant coverage in English-language sources.

[1] Dow Jones Insight is currently tracking media mentions of 12 athletes from various countries and sports selected because of their notoriety and sponsorship potential likely tied to their success in Beijing.

Methodology: Analysis includes 6,000 newspapers, wires, magazines, radio and TV transcripts; about 13,000 current-awareness news sites; 60,000 message boards and about two million blogs.

Top Sponsorship Dollars Don’t Always Buy the Most Media Coverage

By Dow Jones Insight Staff

Each of the 12 global sponsors for the Beijing Olympics has invested significant sums of money to attach its brand to the Games, but not all of them are getting their money’s worth in terms of press coverage yet. During the period of June 10-16, two companies had a combined 51% of all mentions of sponsor companies in conjunction with the Games in traditional and social media sources analyzed by Dow Jones Insight. Visa, with 115 mentions for 29%, and Coca-Cola, with 87 mentions for 22%, outpaced the rest of the global sponsors. McDonald’s was in third, with 54 of the 399 total mentions, followed by General Electric with 39. The remaining eight – Samsung, computer maker Lenovo, watch-maker Omega, Panasonic, Johnson & Johnson, Atos Origin, the IT services company, Kodak and Manulife – have barely shown up yet.

Overall, mentions in social media (blogs and boards) made up only about 20% of all media mentions. Coca-Cola and McDonald’s received the most significant coverage in social media sources, with 32% and 33% of their overall coverage, respectively, coming from blogs and boards. For Visa, mentions in the social media accounted for only 13% of its overall coverage. Johnson & Johnson and Atos Origin received no mentions in the social media during the analyzed time period.

Methodology: Analysis includes 6,000 newspapers, wires, magazines, radio and TV transcripts; about 13,000 current-awareness news sites; 60,000 message boards and about two million blogs.

Olympic Sponsors Can’t Avoid Controversies in Beijing

By Dow Jones Insight Staff

For the 12 global sponsors of the Beijing Olympics, attaching their names means sharing in the glory and the positive images of the Games, but it can also associate their names with some of the more negative topics as well. Three of the sponsors – Coca-Cola, Samsung and Lenovo – received a significant amount of coverage, much of it unflattering, during the past month. Most of this coverage centered on the three companies’ sponsorship of the Olympic Torch Relay, which was targeted for protest by Free Tibet activists. Coca-Cola, Samsung and Lenovo were specifically targeted by the protesters for their perceived tolerance of China’s relationship with Tibet.

Of Coca-Cola’s 293 mentions in traditional and social media sources analyzed by Dow Jones Insight, 185, or 63%, were related to the issue of Tibet. Similarly, 103 of Lenovo’s total mentions, or 66%, and 89 of Samsung’s 126 mentions, or 71%, were related to Tibet. For Lenovo, all of its mentions occurred in the press, while Coca-Cola and Samsung each had most of their mentions in traditional media and a small number of mentions in social media. French company Atos Origin also garnered significant coverage related to Tibet, with 92 of its 184 total mentions, or 50%, relating to Tibet.

Most of the coverage for General Electric and McDonald’s, on the other hand, was associated with general human rights issues. Forty of McDonald’s 78 total mentions, or 51%, concerned human rights issues, including 29 mentions in social media and only 11 in the press. Of GE’s 87 total mentions, 40, or 46%, were related to human rights issues. More of these mentions appeared in social media than in the press, 23 versus 17.

Methodology: Analysis includes 6,000 newspapers, wires, magazines, radio and TV transcripts; about 13,000 current-awareness news sites; 60,000 message boards and about two million blogs.