CBC Olympics
Mapping the Olympic Winter Games user experience with Canada’s national broadcaster.
Client Challenge
Between the Opening Ceremony on February 9 and the Closing Ceremony on February 25, 2018, 31 million Canadians (more than 85% of the population) tuned in to watch CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang.
As the Games unfolded, CBC/Radio-Canada and its partners offered 3,100+ hours of content across broadcast and digital platforms. As Canada’s Olympic Network through 2024. They wanted to learn all it could about how people were engaging.
As the first media outlet to bring the Games to Canada, the CBC/Radio-Canada is no stranger to Olympic broadcasting. But today’s media landscape is wildy complex, and viewing habits are changing. Broadcasters like the CBC are continually challenged to adapt their strategies in response.
- User Research
- Keynote
- Prioritization workshop
- Mural.ly
- Adobe CS
- Sketch
- Dscout
- G Suite
- Respondent.io
- Streak CRM
TWG Approach
To help CBC understand the behaviours and interaction patterns of viewers during PyeongChang 2018, we followed the lives of 15 carefully-selected participants as they experienced the highs and lows of the Games.
Our approach was to collect data using qualitative, ethnographic user research methods. This would allow us to unearth the triggers, sequences of micro-consumption behaviours, and mental models that informed how Canadians were engaging with Olympic Games content.
The Outcome
Along with detailed user journey maps, TWG provided CBC/Radio-Canada with updates to their Olympic personas featuring a mix of demographic, attitudinal and behavioural attributes. Our research demonstrated that the concept of a single “Social Olympics” persona was limiting — rather, a number of distinct sub-personas make up this complex group. For the Olympics Enthusiast, we updated the persona to reflect the differing habits of the casual follower vs. the highly-engaged viewer.
Our research helped highlight what CBC was doing well, and where it could improve moving forward. The coverage itself was admired from both groups, with CBC’s talent roster offering perspective and diversity that fostered pride.
You have given CBC remarkable insights into the changing nature of our Olympic audience.