NEW YORK, Aug. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Results from the Dow Jones Insight-Olympics Media Pulse show that with the Olympic Games under way, Lenovo -- the only Chinese company among the global sponsors -- has joined McDonald's and Coca-Cola to lead traditional media coverage.
For the period July 28 through August 10, McDonald's moved into the lead among the global sponsors in coverage in traditional media sources, with 20 percent, or 426 mentions, of the top 10 companies' 2,121 mentions. Coca-Cola was close behind with 17 percent, followed by Lenovo with 14 percent. A number of mentions for both McDonald's and Coca-Cola focused on the ubiquity of the products themselves in Beijing rather than on the companies' Olympic ads.
In social media sources analyzed by Dow Jones Insight, Coca-Cola topped McDonald's with 27 percent of the total mentions compared to McDonald's 19 percent. Coverage of these two companies on blogs and message boards was a mix of positive and negative, including mentions of their Olympic tie-in products, as well as connections to China and its questionable human rights and environmental policies.
Visa followed in third, with 163 mentions, or 14 percent of social media coverage, due to comments about its TV commercials and about Team Visa, a sponsorship program for promising European athletes.
Beijing Under Careful Watch of Both U.S. and Non-U.S. Media -- Human Rights the Main Issue After All
The choice of Beijing as the host city of the 2008 Olympic Games raised some eyebrows when it was announced seven years ago as there were doubts about whether a city in insular China would be able to pull off a global event of this nature. But in recent months, talk in Western media turned not to whether the Games would succeed, but whether the city deserved the honor of hosting in light of such issues as China's human rights record, its relationship with Tibet and its environmental problems.
In the period between July 28 and August 10, analysis by Dow Jones Insight shows the breakdown of the discussion of these topics to be nearly identical in the U.S. and in English-language media around the world. Among the seven politically charged issues being tracked by Dow Jones Insight, human rights led global coverage in both traditional (print and online) and social (blogs and boards) media sources, with 36 percent, or 3,144 mentions of 8,650 total mentions, in U.S. sources and 38 percent, or 5,812 mentions of the 15,155 total mentions, in non-U.S. sources.
The environment was a distant second, with 19 percent in U.S. sources and 17 percent in non-U.S. sources. However, U.S. media took Tibet as a more pressing issue than media freedom, as it was the third-most-covered topic. This was probably due to the attention paid to the local protests leading up to the Games.
Phelps Goes for Eight Gold Medals and Regains Top Position in Media
Following the spectacular Opening Ceremonies, the athletes have taken center stage, and leading the way, as he has in much of the pre-Olympic coverage, is U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps. With two gold medals -- and one world record -- down, and six more to go, Phelps was the most-mentioned athlete among those being tracked by Dow Jones Insight in both traditional (print and online) and social (blogs and boards) media sources.
Of the 11,131 total mentions in traditional media sources between July 28 and August 10, Phelps had 26 percent, or 2,904, of those athletes tracked. His percentage of social media mentions was even larger with 37 percent, or 796 of 2,149 total mentions of athletes during the same time period. In second behind Phelps in both traditional and social media sources was basketball player Yao Ming, who is a superstar both in the U.S. and in his native China. Ming had a 16 percent share in traditional media and a 17 percent share in social media.
Australian swimmer Grant Hackett was third in traditional media mentions, with 1,182, or 11 percent of those tracked. U.S. gymnast Paul Hamm and U.S. swimmer Dara Torres followed Hackett, each with 8 percent of mentions in traditional media. American Tyson Gay and Jamaican Asafa Powell, who are expected to battle each other and world-record holder Usain Bolt for the gold in the men's 100 meters, followed with 806 and 741 mentions, respectively. Rounding out the top 10 athletes were Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang, with 677 mentions, or 6 percent, Australian swimmer Libby Lenton, with 631 mentions, or 6 percent, and British marathoner Paula Radcliffe, with 581 mentions, or 5 percent.
In social media sources, Hamm was third behind Phelps and Yao with 239 mentions, or 11 percent. Torres was fourth, with 215 mentions for 10 percent. Gay, Liu Xiang and U.S. women's gymnast Shawn Johnson each had 5 percent of the total mentions. Rounding out the top 10 were Radcliffe, Powell and U.S. women's gymnast Nastia Liukin, each with 3 percent of the total mentions.
Top Ten Athletes (Traditional Press) 1. Michael Phelps 2. Yao Ming 3. Grant Hackett 4. Paul Hamm 5. Dara Torres 6. Tyson Gay 7. Asafa Powell 8. Liu Xiang 9. Libby Lenton 10. Paula Radcliffe Top Ten Athletes (Social Media) 1. Michael Phelps 2. Yao Ming 3. Paul Hamm 4. Dara Torres 5. Tyson Gay 6. Liu Xiang 7. Shawn Johnson 8. Paula Radcliffe 9. Asafa Powell 10. Nastia Liukin
The Dow Jones Insight-Olympics Media Pulse provides a high-level view of a competitive media landscape and demonstrates how athletes, sponsors and issues are covered in the media and how that coverage changes over time. Dow Jones Insight combines proven research methodologies, trusted content and advanced text-mining and visualization tools to deliver strategic qualitative and quantitative media measurement metrics. Organizations use the analysis to nurture their reputation, demonstrate the effectiveness of their communications strategies and achieve business objectives. The platform processes nearly a million articles, Web pages, blogs and message board posts per day.
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