NBCUniversal Clears Its Own High Bar For Olympics Advertising, With Revenue Expected To Set Record

NBCUniversal is exceeding its own bullish forecasts for the Summer Olympics in Paris, with total ad revenue projected to come in north of $1.25 billion.

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The tally will set a new Olympics record, the company said Tuesday, eclipsing the 2020 Tokyo Games, which were held in the summer of 2021 due to Covid. NBCU execs expressed confidence last spring in the ability of Paris to vault past the $1.2 billion brought in for Tokyo, particularly given the comparative advantages of France’s time zone and ability to host live spectators.

The ad update follows a string of positive ratings reports for the early days of the Summer Games, with strong Opening Ceremony tune-in last Friday being followed by more audience gains.

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NBC, NBCUniversal and Comcast have had U.S. rights to the Olympics for more than three decades. The evolution of Peacock, which existed during Tokyo but was much more nascent and limited on the programming side, has been a major driver of the ad performance. All Paris events are viewable on Peacock, and the streaming service has been heavily promoted from other NBCU platforms. The strides made by Peacock have been evident in the more than doubling of digital ad revenue compared with Tokyo.

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Given the way financial results are reported by Comcast, a pure line item capturing only ad revenue is generally not provided, though execs have often characterized or sized their ad hauls over the years.

In terms of the total number of advertisers, Paris has eclipsed both Rio (2016) and Tokyo combined, the company noted. About 70% of Paris advertisers are new to the Olympics, contributing nearly a half-billion dollars in spending.

Mark Marshall, Chairman, Advertising & Partnerships, NBCUniversal, called the Paris Games “a uniquely powerful halo for brands at an incredible scale with a highly engaged and passionate audience.” Advertisers and NBCU have worked together, Marshall added, to develop “authentic and inspirational creative that is leaving a lasting impact on consumers.”

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