Dow Jones Insight-2008 Olympics Media Pulse: China's Lenovo Joins McDonald's and...

Dow Jones Insight-2008 Olympics Media Pulse: China's Lenovo Joins McDonald's
and Coca-Cola as Top Global Sponsors; Michael Phelps and Yao Ming are the
Games' Golden Boys

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.
For further information about the Dow Jones Insight solutions or The Dow
Jones Insight-2008 Olympics Media Pulse, please contact Shannon Sullivan at
+1 609 627 2312 or shannon.sullivan@dowjones.com
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SOURCE Dow Jones & Company

Shannon Sullivan, Enterprise Media Group Public Relations of Dow Jones &
Company, +1-609-627-2312, Fax, +1-609-627-2301, shannon.sullivan@dowjones.com