Olympics fans across Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa will be able watch the Summer Games in London live via YouTube this July and August.
The International Olympic Committee's YouTube channel will broadcast 2,200 hours of HD coverage for people in Singapore, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya, according to a YouTube blog post on Monday. The live stream will include every medal final.
Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia, Nepal, Botswana, Tanzania and Mali are also among the group of 64 territories in Asia and Africa that will be able to follow the Olympics action via YouTube. For a full list, see the IOC's press release here.
The live feeds will be free to anyone with an Internet connection and desktop, tablet or mobile computing device. The IOC YouTube channel will feature 10 HD feeds running 14 hours per day as well as a 24-hour broadcast of Olympics news.
YouTube is just one social media platform expected to play a central role in this summer's Olympics, which follow four years of explosive growth for Facebook, Twitter and other networks. In 2008, Facebook had 100 million users and Twitter had 6 million users. Facebook now claims more than 900 million users, while Twitter claims more than 140 million.
The IOC launched Foursquare check-ins last month, and in April unveiled an Olympics Athletes' Hub to connect fans with verified athlete Facebook and Twitter feeds as well as additional digital content.
Some stringent restrictions on what fans and athletes are allowed to post from where during the event, however, has some worried the Olympics won't end up being so social.
Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, nkbimages
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