We reported back in January how American broadcast station NBC was confident that the estimated $1.3 billion in advertising revenue from the 2012 London Olympic Games would be surpassed and now it appears the company’s projections were correct.
Today, NBC announced it has sold $1 billion worth of advertising for this year’s Olympic Games, attaining the monetary milestone mark 4 months quicker than for the 2012 edition of the Games. The $1 billion figure includes cable and digital adverts during the Games, as well as sales of national broadcast. (InsidetheGames.biz)
Experts point to the ad-friendly time difference between host nation Brazil and the United States as cause for the highest advertising sales figures of any Olympic Games, as most of the key competitions will be broadcast during U.S. primetime television hours. To make this happen, however, swimming is one of several sports whose prelims and finals will take place at unconventional timing compared to non-Olympic competitions. Prelims are set to begin at 1pm local/10am Eastern each day, with semifinals/finals beginning at 10pm local/7pm Eastern, drawing some negative feedback from around the globe when first announced.
“The value of live, big-event programming is more important than ever to advertisers because of its ability to reach large audiences,” Seth Winter, NBC Sports Group executive vice-president of advertising sales, said.
He continued, “The Olympics’ ability to dominate prime time for 17 consecutive nights is unmatched. If brands want to reach viewers and their customers in the third quarter, they have to be in the Olympics.”
In 2014, in a deal valued at $7.65 billion, plus an additional $100 million signing bonus, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded NBCUniversal (NBCU) the broadcast rights in the USA for the Olympic Games through to 2032. Included in the agreement was free-to-air television, subscription television, internet and mobile.
Specific to the Rio Games themselves, NBCU is paying approximately $1.28 billion to broadcast the event, a figure which does not include production costs.
Too bad there isn’t profit sharing for the athletes, both amateur and professional.
…..and decides to postpone olympic swimming until the all-important sweeps week in October.