NBCUniversal ‘Pacing Well Ahead’ of Olympics in Tokyo for Paris 2024 Ad Sales

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The road to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris is well underway, and NBCUniversal has something to celebrate.

The company is already “pacing well ahead” in ad sales compared to the last summer games in Tokyo in a similar timeframe, NBC’s president of ad sales and partnerships Dan Lovinger said during a call with reporters today afternoon.

Noting it’s still “very early,” Lovinger said NBCU is seeing strong Olympic interest ahead of the 2023 upfronts.

The company has been working with a number of its ring holders and has seen “significant support,” according to Lovinger. Ring holders are Olympic sponsors that can put their logos beside trademarks like the Olympic rings and are generally category exclusive.

NBCUniversal believes that Paris 2024 will provide new opportunities for advertisers, particularly coming off of three Asia-based games, with the last two taking place during a pandemic.

“We’ve been very encouraged, and we continue to believe that the marketplace will be robust for the Olympics,” said Lovinger. “The comparable seems like a no-brainer for an advertiser to really want to get involved in the Olympics moving forward.”

The company said it was too early to determine any category trends as the games are still about 16 months away. But with NBCU confirming that many sponsors are back, it’s likely that brands in major categories like beverages and technology will be strong.

For Tokyo, NBCU had more than 120 advertisers lined up—20 more than it had prior in Rio—and 80 of those advertisers hadn’t participated in the previous games. The company also raked in more than $1.2 billion in ad sales.

“We’re having active discussions, pre-upfront discussions with all the major agency holding companies. The Olympics will be included in those discussions, and we anticipate doing significant business in the marketplace,” said Lovinger.

The company’s cohesive marketing plan for Paris has already started, leading with a spot starring Paris Hilton.

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NBCUniversal ‘Pacing Well Ahead’ of Olympics in Tokyo for Paris 2024 Ad Sales

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