NBC IS 90% SOLD FOR BEIJING GAMES � ON PACE TO SET OLYMPICS RECORD
NBC IS 90% SOLD FOR BEIJING GAMES � ON PACE TO SET OLYMPICS RECORD
"Advertisers across all categories are recognizing the power of premium content and the strength of the Olympic brand." � NBC's Seth Winter
"As a true fan of sports, especially big event sports, this may be the greatest year I can remember and I think we are all lucky to witness it. It's been a special convergence of sports and media." � Ebersol
NEW YORK � July 21, 2008 � NBC Olympics has sold 90 percent of its advertising inventory for the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games, on pace to shatter records from past Olympics. NBC Universal has set a revenue target north of $1 billion for the 2008 Games. The announcement was made today by Seth Winter, SVP Sales, NBC Sports & Olympics.
"Advertisers across all categories are recognizing the power of premium content and the strength of the Olympic brand, particularly in an increasingly fragmented media landscape," said Winter. "Live sports continues to resonate with viewers, and advertisers know the Olympics are one of the best ways to reach an engaged mass audience."
Among the categories seeing the most movement in recent weeks are corporate imaging, consumer electronics, movies and retail, spurred by back-to-school advertising. Winter cited recent momentum from NBC's primetime coverage of the U.S. Olympics Trials for Swimming, Gymnastics and Track & Field, which saw ratings increases over 2004 and featured buzz worthy performances from marquee athletes such as Michael Phelps, Dara Torres, Tyson Gay and Shawn Johnson. Advertisers also have noted the recent stellar ratings for the U.S. Open and Wimbledon on NBC, as well as the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup Final and NBA Finals.
Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics, said: "As a true fan of sports, especially big event sports, this may be the greatest year I can remember and I think we are all lucky to witness it. It's been a special convergence of sports and media, for various reasons some of these events played out in primetime or at times that are rare and unique to each sport, and somehow that helped add a little splendor to some of these magical moments.
"I think we are all lucky to be living in a special time in the world of sports right now. We at NBC Sports have been lucky to cover some of these great moments this year and we are in a position to cover more in the months ahead. We have the biggest sporting event in the world in the Summer Olympics and, five months later, we'll cover the biggest sporting event in the U.S. � it's an unofficial national holiday � the Super Bowl. As sports fans, it's a great time for all of us."
NBC Universal, broadcasting its record 11th Olympics and surpassing ABC for the most Olympics broadcast by any network, will present an unprecedented 3,600 hours of Beijing Olympic Games coverage, the most ambitious single media project in history. NBCU's unprecedented Olympics coverage features the most live coverage in the United States (nearly 2,900 live hours in total), across the most platforms, of any Summer Olympics in history when the Games of the XXIX Olympiad commence on Aug. 8.
The 3,600 total hours of coverage on seven NBC Universal networks: NBC, USA, MSNBC, CNBC, Oxygen, Telemundo and Universal HD, as well as NBCOlympics.com, is 1,000 hours more than the combined coverage for every televised Summer Olympics in U.S. history (Rome 1960 � Athens 2004, 2,562 hours). NBCOlympics.com will feature approximately 2,200 total hours of live streaming Olympic broadband video coverage, the first live online Olympic coverage in the United States.
NBC, America's Olympic Network, holds the exclusive U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2012, which includes Vancouver 2010 and London 2012.
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