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MONTREAL - Global cellphone users are "snacking" and "sipping" their way through the Beijing Olympics but what they're doing is consuming content: watching bits of events, checking medal counts or finding highlights on the go.

The Olympics are not just a living room experience and people are using their mobile phones to find out what they want to know in real time, said Nic Covey of U.S.-based Nielsen Mobile, which tracks the behaviour of what it calls mobile consumers.

"It's clear to us that the Olympics have been a watershed moment for mobile media," Covey said Wednesday from San Francisco.

"The time-sensitive nature of the Olympics and the around-the-clock schedule of events have led many mobile consumers to view their phones as the place to stay connected."

Nielsen has projected that millions of global consumers are expected to follow the Beijing Games on their cellphones with those in the United States and United Kingdom expected to lead the way.

"We argue that we've already hit a critical mass of audience and with the Olympics that audience is only going to get bigger. I think we will see impressive numbers for mobile consumption with the Olympics." Covey said consumers who want to watch complete events live will look to television and have shorter viewing experiences on their cellphones. "We know that people are using the phone to look at the TV schedule, to look at the medal counts, to look at highlights, photos of the day and consumers are even looking at athlete info on their phones.''