Tokyo 2020 Olympics already at over $1B in TV advertising revenue
The Japanese city is set to break 2016 Rio Games record
With the Tokyo Summer Olympics just seven months away, NBCUniversal revealed it has earned over $1 billion in national television advertising revenue, a sizable increase when compared to the same time period leading into the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, according to online advertising news outlet Media Post.
NBCUniversal reported ad revenues of $1.2 billion for the 2016 Rio Summer Games, which still holds the distinction of being the highest in Olympics history. However, NBCUniversal anticipates it will break that record in Tokyo this summer.
In fact, the Tokyo Games already hold a double-digit percentage gain in TV advertising revenue when compared to eight months prior to the Rio Summer games in 2016,Major Publish with several new processes and developments driving such growth.
Dan Lovinger, NBC Sports Group executive vice president of advertising sales, told the Media Post that roughly half of the Tokyo Olympic Games advertisers are new clients coming from a variety of different industries, from technology and retail to finance and pharmaceutical services. Olympics advertising packages are being sold by the network at prices ranging from $1 million to $100 million.
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Despite airing between both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, the network says no presidential candidates have purchased ads for the Tokyo Games, even though Olympic Games tend to garner some of the highest television ratings, the Media Post reports.
Several factors have driven this advertising revenue boon for the Tokyo Summer Olympics, the first of which is the fact that NBCUniversal started selling advertising spots in June, far earlier than years past.
“We believe this put our ad sales ahead of schedule,” Lovinger told the outlet.
And for the first time in network history, NBCUniversal is selling Olympic ads targeting two major demographics, age groups 18-49 and 25-54, which combined make up 80 percent of total TV buying nationwide, according to the Media Post.
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The way in which the network makes Olympic advertising deals has changed too, as it will now sell to advertisers on total average viewers 2 years and older as opposed to its previous method of making deals based on household ratings.
In perfecting its Olympic advertising process, NBCUniversal is also in the process of creating an Olympic Advertising Engine - a research tool designed to assist marketers in developing their TV commercials.
In the past, the network has utilized artificial intelligence for large events like the Super Bowl and has uncovered 575 different variables culled from the last four Super Bowls in a move to help advertisers prepare and refine their creative advertising efforts.
Lovinger added that “the biggest barrier to entry is creative concerns” when it comes to massive television events like the Olympics and the Super Bowl, according to the Media Post.