NBCUniversal’s 2024 Paris Olympics Advertising Sales “Pacing Ahead” of Prior Games

The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris are still some nine months away, but are already delivering results for US rights holder NBCUniversal.

According to Dan Lovinger, president of NBCU’s Olympic and Paralympic Partnerships, the live coverage of the opening ceremony is sold out (it is scheduled to be broadcast live on NBC and Telemundo and streamed on Peacock), although he adds that there are still spots available for the primetime coverage, which will include a tighter version of the ceremony.

The company has also sold out of its halftime sponsorships for team sports (including basketball and football), as well as its ‘Prime Pods’, a new format the company is introducing with the 2024 Olympics.

“The Prime Pods, I think, are a cool example of how we’re trying to bring more action, and maybe a few less ads,” Lovinger says. The Hollywood Reporter. “So on 13 weeknights during primetime on NBC – and it will travel to our simulcast on Peacock – you will see the peak half-hour where the biggest event takes place, with no commercials, except for a 60-second spot, and that is a double box offering (where the event appears in a different box while the ad is running), so you can still be part of the action.’

Lovinger says the premium commercials will also be integrated into the broadcasts.

“So our studio announcers will say, ‘Hey, coming up soon, don’t miss the 100m final… it’ll be commercial-free courtesy of our friends at X, Y & Z,’” he says. “So we feel good about that, because we can capture the biggest moments in an organized way.”

Jenny Storms, NBCU’s CMO of entertainment and sports, says the 2024 Olympics setting also aligns favorably with the demographic the company hopes to reach and the interest of potential viewers.

“From a statistical perspective, the top three locations that Americans – especially Gen Z and Millennials – want and want to travel to are Paris, Milan and LA. The next three Olympics are Paris, Milan and LA, and then couple with the Eiffel Tower being the most Instagrammed place in the world, there is a huge inertia and energy on the part of the consumer going to Paris,” says Storms. “Now we can tie our marketing strategy to that, our vision and bring our efforts to life and then complement everything they (the Paris Organizing Committee) do.”

Storms says the company has been working to identify consumers and figure out whether they are cord cutters or cable subscribers, to try to optimize the marketing strategy and drive maximum interest in the games.

“What we’ve done is we’ve built an incredible muscle where we can identify who you are, as a consumer, and reach you at your location, without any access point,” says Storms. “And then we can identify you and push you where to go, based on whether you’re a linear viewer, or based on whether you’re a cord-cutter-shaver or a cord-never. So that muscle has been built up and we have had almost two years to build up within the company to be ready for the largest cross-platform consumption event, which is Paris.”

Lovinger adds that the company’s digital offering, led by Peacock, which will live stream all events, will also mean new advertisers will be added. For previous Olympics, Lovinger notes that the company only had about 100 advertising partners, due to the high costs required to reach consumers through broadcast.

“What Peacock and Digital allow us to do is actually serve the mid and long tail. So 100 becomes more than 200 advertisers,” says Lovinger. “And yes, we still have that high mass range vehicle, if that’s what you’re trying to do through linear, but Peacock will probably be 20 to 25 percent of our total consumption.”