Broadcasters and advertisers expected a lot from the Olympics — was it worth it?

Dan Lovinger, president, advertising sales, NBC Sports Group, told Digiday in an email that the Paris Olympics were “consumed in massive numbers,” with a daily average of 30.4 million viewers across its various channels. The Games netted $1.2 billion in ad revenue. The company secured its highest-ever tally for the Olympic Games and more than that brought in by the Tokyo and Rio games combined, he added. As for the Paralympics, the company saw a 60% increase in sales.

“Our inventory was sold out, helping us to reach 140% of our pre-Games sales target with more than 20 partners being serviced,” wrote Mike Rich, group svp of ad-sales and brand partnerships, UK, Ireland and International at Warner Bros. Discovery, in an email, noting that the Games “reached 215 million people across Europe on WBD platforms — 23% more than Tokyo 2020” and that a total of “seven billion streaming minutes [were] delivered across Max and discovery+ — x6 more than Tokyo 2020.”

For Channel 4, the British broadcaster and streamer which carries Paralympic coverage in the U.K., the event also provided commercial growth; the broadcaster sold 16 brand sponsorship packages, compared to 7 sold during the Tokyo games. Though they declined to share pricing or sales figures, a spokesperson said sales were higher than Tokyo.

“Event TV is still hugely popular. People talk about fragmentation and viewing, but ultimately when we have these big events we draw huge numbers,” said Victoria Appleby, head of sales (London) at Channel 4.

As a public service broadcaster, Channel 4 used its coverage as a chance to make live sports more accessible and more inclusive. Among other measures, it added Rose Ayling-Ellis, the first deaf sports presenter to work on live TV in Britain, to its presenting roster; 91% of its commentators and presenters were disabled. The broadcaster also worked with advertisers to make spots more accessible to viewers, with 68% of ads shown around the Paralympics containing closed captions; the average on U.K. TV is 25%, said Appleby. 

It also brought a much larger audience to Channel 4. About 20 million Britons tuned in on linear and streaming to watch its Paralympics coverage – the channel’s largest audience share in 12 years. At 7.3 billion viewer minutes, Channel 4’s streaming views shot up 85% compared with its coverage of Tokyo.

Peacock, NCBU’s premium streaming service, was one of the major media stories of the Games. For the first time, advertisers were able to place ads on Olympic coverage programmatically. Users watched a collective 23.5 billion minutes via the platform, up 40% from all prior Summer and Winter Olympics put together. Lovinger said “record high” digital revenues were triple those recorded at Tokyo, but he declined to provide a specific breakdown.

“By offering Paris 2024 programmatically, we were able to further open inventory to new advertisers and increase the number of advertisers participating in the Olympics. While direct IO remains the main source of Olympics digital demand, the programmatic marketplace should continue to grow in future Games,” he wrote.

The Olympics — and particularly Peacock’s programmatic inventory around the Games – were cited as a key reason behind a sector-wide rise in TV spending by an IAB report released last week. The Bureau’s survey of 200 media buyers found them estimating spending increases of spend at 18.4% for CTV, versus 14.5% back in 2023. Linear TV increases were estimated at 4.3% — a turnaround from -0.5% in 2023.

“This was the first programmatic Olympics. That’s a big deal,” said Chris Bruderle, vp, industry insights and content strategy at IAB. Programmatic, he added, “makes it so much easier” for the “long tail” of smaller advertisers to access Olympic inventory, fueling growth.

For some advertisers, the higher viewership figures for the Games are the earliest reliable signal that their sponsorship or activity was worthwhile. Caitlyn Ranson, senior manager of partnership marketing at Bridgestone Americas, told Digiday that it hadn’t yet collated figures on social engagement or reach for its campaign, elements of which are still running. The brand released a campaign featuring its “Team Bridgestone” roster of Paralympic athletes, and focused heavily on paid social channels to reach audiences.

But, Ranson added, the increased audiences for the Paralympics – which Bridgestone focused on – were vindication for its strategy. “In our eyes, the Team Bridgestone spot was a success no matter what,” she said, noting that the higher viewership figures among broadcasters for the Paralympics was a major boost.

Other advertisers, such as Samsung, have a clearer picture of the impact of their efforts. The electronics manufacturer’s “First Flips” campaign ran in the U.K. from the beginning of July until the close of the Games in September. 

The work aimed to boost awareness and, ultimately, sales of its Galaxy Z Flip 6 model among younger Gen Z consumers and as such, the brand and its agency Iris tracked both sales and brand perceptions via consumer surveys to measure the campaign’s impact.

“We’ve seen an increase in ownership. We’ve seen an increase in the ‘proud to own’ metric, and we’ve seen an increase in purchase intent,” said Peter Wilson, executive strategy director at Iris, who also declined to offer specific figures. In addition, the engagement rate for an organic social content series featuring creators Arrdee (1.8 million TikTok followers), Yung Filly (3.1 million TikTok followers) and Mia Regan (334,000 TikTok followers) rose to 6.5% across TikTok, Insta and YouTube, up from a typical rate of 2%.

And what of Nike, which made such a major push at Paris? Following a period of rare commercial decline, the footwear giant has sought to reforge inroads into the crucial running segment by highlighting track and field sports, and take advantage of the eyes on the event to boost sales.

Greg Carlucci, senior director analyst for CPG at Gartner, told Digiday that the Olympics certainly held the chance for the sneaker firm to meet those goals. “Being able to create a synergy around the impact of an event and maybe highlighting it in things like in-store advertisements or on your website are really critical,” he said.

At the center of its efforts was a Wieden + Kennedy campaign starring Willem Dafoe, dubbed “Winning Isn’t For Everyone.” A spokesperson for Nike told Digiday in an email that the campaign “is part of our greater strategy to sharpen our focus on sport, accelerate our pace and scale of newness and innovation, driving bigger, bolder storytelling, and elevating the entire marketplace to fuel brand distinction and be in the path of the consumer.”

Nike declined to share business impact figures, but CEO John Donahue told shareholders that the work had “absolutely created energy… it exceeded our own expectations for brand, reach, engagement and impact.”

This story has been updated to reflect NBC ad sales.