Advertisers paid an average of $510,000 per prime-time 30-second spot during NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympic Games from Sochi, Russia -- down more than 18% from the price paid by advertisers during the network's coverage of the Summer Games in London two years earlier.
The price -- which is derived from the actual invoiced media buys processed and paid by the major agency holding companies to NBC via Mediaocean -- is based on actual buys, not estimates. It does not include ad deals that NBC processed with agencies or direct with advertisers not utilizing Mediaocean's data-processing and bill payment systems.
The audience for NBC's coverage of the Sochi games was down 12% from the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games, but up 6% from the 2006 Torino Olympic Games.
Seems NBS Sports didn't agree. An NBC Sports spokesman said the average prime-time price paid by Sochi Winter Olympics advertisers was much higher than the $510,000 per 30-second unit paid by the Mediaocean shops. He declined to give a precise number, but said it was “well above $600,000” on average. The Sochi Olympic buys processed through Mediaocean accounted for about $600 million, or roughly 75% of the $800 million NBC says it took in from the Games.
Whatever.
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