NBC is on pace to sell over $1 billion in advertising, across a wide variety of platforms, during the 2012 Olympics. The $1 billion figure takes into account advertising sold on NBC, Telemundo, NBC-owned cable TV channels, www.nbcolympics.com, apps and 3D channels. NBC has more than $60 million in digital ad sales so far, which are being sold in a package with TV advertising.
All of the ad spots available during the Opening Ceremony have been sold out already and the Closing Ceremony only has a few more spots to fill. Compared to the last Olympics in Beijing, NBC is on pace to sell more than $150 million in advertising.
NBC is also making a huge push to expand the online viewing experience of the Olympics with 3,500 hours of live coverage online (1300 more hours than in 2008). These audiences tend to skew younger and NBC really sees online streaming as a major part of the network’s plan in the future. If somebody is already at their computer, phone or tablet, they’re going to be more likely to engage in social media, helping NBC further build their audience and engagement.
In all there will be more than 5,500 hours of Olympics coverage across NBC’s family of networks this year, which makes for a ton of advertising opportunities.
Unfortunately for NBC though, the costs of acquiring the rights to the Olympics ($1.2 Billion) and for producing the coverage (estimated at $150 million), means the network is still going to lose upwards of $250 million dollars airing the games. NBC is hoping the “prestige” from broadcasting the Olympics, as well as being able to advertise for its own shows will turn that loss into a gain over the long run.
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