Clips and highlights of Olympic events are to be made available on the video-sharing site YouTube, owned by Google, under an agreement with the International Olympic Committee, the IOC said in a statement.

“The IOC’s priority is to ensure that as many people as possible get to experience the magic of the Olympic Games and the inspirational sporting achievements of the Olympic athletes,” says Timo Lumme, IOC director of television and marketing.

“For the first time in Olympic history we will have complete global online coverage, and the IOC will have its own broadcast channel (which) will make fantastic Olympic footage available where young generations of sports fans are already going for online entertainment.” The Games open on Friday.

IOC said it wanted to tap into the youth market that Youtube carries with it. It will be offering three hours per day to viewers which will be a compilation of all the day’s action, as well as Games highlights.

Online pictures and reports of the Games will be available in 77 territories across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, including India, South Korea, Nigeria and Indonesia, the IOC said.

The Video On Demand (VOD) clips start on August 6. The IOC’s channel will be available at www.youtube.com/beijing2008, but will be blocked within each territory served.

The service is meant to bring the Olympics to countries where digital rights have not been sold or have been acquired on a non-exclusive basis.

The financial deal is tiny compared to the traditional TV rights deals and completely different in nature given that essentially it is using the Youtube platform, the IOC said. There will be no promotional rights nor use of logos.