Logo

Olympic Gold for NBCU

Jan 20, 2008  •  Post A Comment

As the clock ticks down to 08/08/08 for the opening of the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, new advertising formats and record prices are driving sponsorship support for NBC Universal’s 3,600 hours of coverage of the event to all-time highs.
For the first time, the International Olympic Committee—which had a longstanding policy against advertising in venues and on the screen during events—has agreed to allot NBC and other outlets worldwide 20% of the screen to carry still-frame and limited-motion advertising messages during the Olympics.
The shift in sponsorship strategy, combined with the slew of NBCU outlets that will broadcast or stream the Games, has the company targeting record ad sales of $1.1 billion for the Olympics, according to NBC sources.
With the network ensuring that the event’s most popular sports, such as swimming and gymnastics, will be carried live in prime time in U.S. households, executives throughout the company are optimistic that they have maximized the company’s original $1.5 billion investment in the 2006 and 2008 Games.
“The average night for us will be 75% live, and that’s unheard of for an Olympics in the Far East,” said Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports & Olympics. “By delivering the best events for U.S. audiences live, it’s the ultimate knockout for the Olympics audience base, and advertisers are responding to that.”
Already on board for the Games are Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, AT&T, Anheuser-Busch, General Motors, Visa, Bank of America, Johnson & Johnson, Nike, Hilton Hotels, Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Subway and Target, according to insiders. In addition, Samsung is expected to sign a deal in the near future. Sales are on pace with previous Olympic telecasts.
Mr. Ebersol noted a number of storylines for the Olympics that should drive viewer interest throughout the summer, including the number of Americans who have won world championships in the past year. “Usually that’s a guide to determine our success,” he said.
He said one key athlete to keep an eye on will be swimmer Michael Phelps, who is in line to break the all-time record for gold medals in the Games.
“That’s the ultimate story of winning,” he said. “No athlete, male or female, has ever won more than nine gold medals in their lifetimes. Michael has already won six and is heavily favored to win seven while competing in eight events. His competitions will run every night in prime time for us throughout the first half of the Olympics.”
Mr. Ebersol also noted interest in China would drive viewership to the Games.
“There is a tremendous interest and fascination with China, which is opening its doors to the world for the first time,” Mr. Ebersol said. “In addition, China has worked very hard to be ready and is in a position that no country in two decades has been able to accomplish: challenge the U.S. for gold medal supremacy. The U.S. has not had a meaningful rivalry in the games since the [Berlin] Wall fell in 1989 and ended the cold war Olympic competition. That competition with them [China] will bring a new dimension back to the Games.”
Last summer, NBC Universal executives announced that the company will present more than 3,600 hours of coverage of the Games from Beijing, more than the combined total of every Summer Olympics ever televised in the U.S.
212 Hours a Day
That breaks down to a total of 212 hours of Olympics a day, triple the coverage of the Athens Games in 2004 and 20 times the amount from Atlanta in 1996. CBS offered 13 hours of coverage starting with the 1960 Winter Games from Squaw Valley, Calif., with 20 hours of coverage from the Summer Games in Rome that year, when the Olympics first found a home on U.S. network television.
According to an NBC press release, prime-time coverage will feature live swimming, gymnastics and beach volleyball, despite the 12-hour time difference between Beijing and the Eastern time zone.
On the airwaves, NBC, USA, MSNBC and CNBC will provide coverage from Beijing, with high-definition coverage on HD affiliates as well as on USA HD and Universal HD. Spanish-language coverage will be offered on NBC Universal-owned Telemundo.
On the digital front, NBC Universal sources said the company is having trouble keeping up with advertiser demand for digital inventory.
Earlier in the month, the studio announced it was teaming up with MSN and Microsoft in a strategic partnership to form “NBCOlympics.com on MSN,” which will be powered by Microsoft’s Silverlight technology that will deliver 200 hours of live event video coverage, with more than 20 simultaneous live video streams at peak times, as well as more than 3,000 hours of on-demand video content, including full-event replays, highlights, features, interviews and encore packages.
NBCOlympics.com’s coverage will be powered by MSN and Microsoft technology in an effort to complement NBC’s broadcast programming and allow fans to pick which Olympic sports, athletes and countries they want to watch.

12 Comments

  1. I love the expression. Everyone needs to express there own opinion and feel free to hear others. Keep it up 🙂

  2. Keep focusing on your blog. I love how we can all express our feelings. This is an extremely nice blog here 🙂

  3. I love the expression. Everyone needs to express there own opinion and feel free to hear others. Keep it up 🙂

  4. I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz reply back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to know wheere u got this from. thanks

  5. Hey how are you doing? I just wanted to stop by and say that it’s been a pleasure reading your blog. I have bookmarked your website so that I can come back & read more in the future as well. plz do keep up the quality writing

  6. Hey how are you doing? I just wanted to stop by and say that it’s been a pleasure reading your blog. I have bookmarked your website so that I can come back & read more in the future as well. plz do keep up the quality writing

  7. Hey how are you doing? I just wanted to stop by and say that it’s been a pleasure reading your blog. I have bookmarked your website so that I can come back & read more in the future as well. plz do keep up the quality writing

  8. I love the way you write and also the theme on your blog. Did you code this yourself or was it done by a professional? I’m very very impressed.

  9. Interesting layout on your blog. I really enjoyed reading it and also I will be back to read more in the future.

  10. I am not good with internet things yet… could you give me your e-mail? I would like to place advertisment of my shop on top of your site.

  11. You make blogging look like a walk in the park! I’ve been trying to blog daily but I just cant find writing material.. you’re an inspiration to me and i’m sure many others!

  12. You make blogging look like a walk in the park! I’ve been trying to blog daily but I just cant find writing material.. you’re an inspiration to me and i’m sure many others!

Leave a Reply to Backlinks Cancel Reply

Email (will not be published)