- Helicopter stunt leads discussions ahead of support for Chinese athletes at the Games, Mr. Bean, the torch lighting and the athletes' procession
- Guam's Maria Dunn voted as most beautiful flagbearer during the Ceremony
Tencent, the leading online media company in China, today announced that the most discussed topic in China over the course of the Opening Ceremony was the Queen's entrance via helicopter alongside James Bond. According to Tencent Weibo – China's equivalent of Twitter - posts of support for China's athletes were overtaken by the sight of the Queen leaping from a helicopter before entering the stadium to announce the start of the Games.
Discussions in support of Chinese athletes were the second most discussed topic trending on Weibo via Tencent's online media platform. The third most discussed topic was the flag bearers representing each country and which of them was the most attractive. According to posters on Tencent Weibo, the winner was Maria McQueen Dunn, representing Guam in the Women's Freestyle Wrestling.
The fourth highest trending topic focused on which athlete would win the first gold medal of the Games. Chinese web users predicted that shooting athlete Yu Dan would get the first gold medal of the Games, but it was another of China's shooting experts Yi Siling who won the first gold with victory in the women's 10m air rifle.
Ma Yankun, Head of Tencent's Frontline Reporting Team for the London Olympics, commented that, "The Games themselves have started very well, and we saw a huge level of interest in both the Opening Ceremony and the athletes across our services, with over 25,000,000 posts and 93,989,290 visits to our portal during and after the Opening ceremony. The Ceremony itself sparked a lot of debate, from comparison of the London Games with Beijing 2008 through to the National Health Service, British history and how those responsible for building the many new stadia that are now in place were involved in the Ceremony as well. The Weibo users also had a lot of fun on the service discussing how the event was put together, from the role that David Beckham played through to which country had the most attractive flagbearer."
According to data provided by China's Qinghua University Media Research Lab, Tencent and its portal for online services led the overall demand for content around the Olympic Ceremony. Tencent was ranked first as the online media platform used to access content around the Olympic Opening Ceremony with more than a quarter of all respondents, followed by Sina and Baidu. In the same research, more than 90 per cent of all respondents used PCs or laptops to access content, while just under 30 per cent used tablets or mobile devices.
Deputy Editor-in-chief of Tencent portal and the director of Tencent London Olympics Project, Wang Yongzhi, said "The research that we have seen around the Chinese audience during the opening of the Olympics is that they are accessing a mix of services in order to get content. This included video, Weibo and material created by the journalists that we are supporting at the event, while a significant number used both mobile and PC devices. With audiences acting in this way, it requires a truly integrated approach in order to reach them, whether this is for the purposes of delivering content or for marketing purposes."
Some of the responses to the Opening Ceremony via Tencent Weibo:
Famous Chinese Pianist Lang Lang: "The focus on the next generation shown in this ceremony is so touching. The whole ceremony highlights culture and music, history and art, which impressed me massively."
Guo Yu Kuan: "What touched me most about the London ceremony is that they made the 500 construction workers of the Olympic stadium the guardians of Olympic torch."
Sun Yunxiao: "Family is the carrier of the Olympic spirit in everyday life. Music and dance can be the spirit of the Olympics and the best channels for communication. It was not as full of visual thrills as the Beijing Olympic Games, but more about parents and family"
Song Shinan: "London Opening Ceremony - great effort around United Kingdom's universal health care system. This universal service (including foreigners) provides free medical care, and children are the first beneficiaries."
About Tencent
Tencent aims to enrich the interactive online experience of Internet users by providing a comprehensive range of Internet and wireless value-added services. Through its various online platforms, including Instant Messaging QQ, web portal QQ.com, the QQ Game platform under Tencent Games, multi-media social networking service Qzone and wireless portal, Tencent services the largest online community in China and fulfills the user's needs for communication, information, entertainment and e-Commerce on the Internet. Tencent has four main streams of revenues:
Internet value-added services, mobile and telecommunications value-added services, online advertising and e-Commerce.
Shares of Tencent Holdings Limited are traded on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, under stock code 00700. The Company became one of the 43 constituents of the Hang Seng Index (HSI) on June 10, 2008. For more information, please visit www.tencent.com/ir.
Forward-looking Statements Disclaimer: This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to the business outlook, forecast business plans and growth strategies of Tencent. They are based on information currently available to Tencent and its outlook at the time of this press release. These statements are made under certain expectations, assumptions and premises, some of which are subjective or beyond Tencent's control. These forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect and may not be realised in future. Underlying these statements are a large number of risks and uncertainties. As such, the inclusion of any forward-looking statements in this press release should not be regarded as representations by Tencent or any of its directors and employees that the business outlook, forecast, plans and strategies will be achieved, and no undue reliance should be placed on any of such statements.
Contacts:
Tencent
Wynne Wang
Phone: +86-10-82154906
Email: wynnewang@tencent.com
or
PR
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Goode Communications
Mark Kember
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Email: mark.kember@goode.co.uk
