Since Monday, NBC Universal says it has sold an additional $10 million in Olympic advertising on top of the more than $1 billion the network sold leading into the Beijing Games. The announcement was made by Seth Winter, SVP Sales & Marketing, NBC Sports & Olympics.
"From the buzz of the spectacular Opening Ceremony to a memorable first four days of competition, the Olympics have completely captivated the American public and further ignited our sales efforts," said Winter. "Americans are consuming our Olympic coverage in record numbers and in every way – through broadcast, cable, online and mobile. What’s particularly encouraging to me is the strength in the young male demo, which has shown the largest increase of any age group."
Winter noted NBCU’s strategy of holding back inventory to sell during the Games and cited a surge in interest in the movie, packaged goods and retail categories. Business has come from advertisers who had already bought Olympic time as well new advertisers. More than 100 companies have advertised during NBC’s Olympic coverage.
Through five days, NBCU has attracted 168 million total viewers, nearly 15 million more than the first five days for Athens (153 million).
NBC’s Beijing Olympic five-day average viewership is 31.3 million, almost five million more than Athens in 2004 (25.8 million). The national rating average of 17.8/31 is the best primetime rating through the first Tuesday for a non-U.S. Summer Olympics since Barcelona in 1992 (18.2/34) and is a 16% jump from Athens in 2004 (15.4/27).
NBC’s Olympics coverage has also scored in the young male demos. The primetime rating among Men 18-34 is up 28%; among Men 18-49 the increase is 22%.
Through five days, NBCOlympics.com has easily surpassed the Athens Games in every metric:
• Video streams: 17.7 million for Beijing, 2.2 million for Athens Games (+705%)
• Unique users: 21.1 million for Beijing, 11.1 million for Athens Games (+90%)
• Page views: 373.9 million for Beijing, 229.9 million for Athens Games (+63%)
