The Olympics are always a world spectacle and the pinnacle of athletic competition, but the Beijing summer games are also shaping up to be an unprecedented digital experience, in everything from coverage to advertising campaigns.

"By all accounts, this will be the biggest digital event ever," Dan Shust, director of emerging media for Resource Interactive, told USA Today.

NBC is leading the digital blitz with 2,200 hundred hours of live competition streaming online. An estimated 5 percent of all viewers will watch online and via mobile devices, and NBC is using the Olympics as a "research lab" to study how consumers supplement TV viewing with other forms of media. NBC Universal has already generated $1 billion worth of ad revenue across all its platforms, all before the games even begin, according to Variety.

Meanwhile, major advertisers are rolling out their own Olympic-themed digital campaigns across blogs, social networks and other websites. Coca-Cola has earmarked 10 percent of its Olympic budget for digital campaigns like mycoke.com, which lets users give the world a decorated virtual Coke bottle, and McDonald's has already made waves with its "The Lost Ring" virtual game.

"In the past, it was about being a proud sponsor of the Olympics," said Donna Hoffman of the Sloan Center for Internet Retailing. "Sponsors can get a lot closer to the action by sponsoring the people who are talking about it."

Other marketers are using existing channels for viral campaigns, aiming to connect with consumers at websites they already visit. Both Nike and Johnson & Johnson's baby division will launch YouTube channels with Olympic themes.