What NBCU Is Charging for the First Programmatic Olympics

In March, NBCUniversal announced it would allow advertisers to buy ads programmatically for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris for the first time. At the time, the broadcast giant said its programmatic inventory would be available through its partner, the adtech company The Trade Desk. ADWEEK has now learned the details of that programmatic pitch, including pricing information. According to Trade Desk communications seen by ADWEEK and corroborated by two sources, the Trade Desk is offering three main private marketplaces (PMPs) where advertisers can bid on inventory. An Olympic Trials offering, which ran before the Olympics and is now completed, came in at a $35 CPM. An All Olympics offering, which includes live events and replays on Peacock and the NBC Sports app, has a $60 CPM and was corroborated by a third source. An Olympic Highlights offering, which includes news coverage, highlights, shoulder content and replays, has a $40 CPM. "Clients have been receptive to the idea of engaging Olympics inventory with no overall commitment or minimum that needs to be hit," said Ryan Gilbert, vp of digital media at Rain the Growth Agency—one of the sources who corroborated the offering info. Gilbert noted that two clients had been approved for the program. Buyers told ADWEEK the CPMs were for floor bids, and programmatic auctions typically require significantly higher bids to secure inventory. Gilbert also noted that the CPMs were the same for both 15-second and 30-second ads. “The power of the programmatic marketplace allows brands of all sizes to buy in real-time, which is especially valuable for something as scaled and premium as the Olympics," an NBCUniversal spokesperson told ADWEEK in a statement. The spokesperson noted that NBCUniversal saw a double-digit increase in the floor pricing for the Olympic Trials, which the company attributes to competition and demand for the content. The Trade Desk declined to comment. With programmatic, there's no guarantee that inventory will be available; however, ADWEEK learned that NBCUniversal will make the inventory available in the games if it sees a surplus of supply. The Paralympics, which run from Aug. 28 to Sept. 8, will have the same three programmatic offerings as the Olympics, which take place from July 26 to Aug. 11. With several exclusive and official Olympic sponsors, including companies such as Coca-Cola and Visa, the programmatic inventory also has many advertiser exclusions. According to two buyers, the exclusions list includes political ads, airlines and airport lounges, soda, sports drinks, telcos, hospitals in New York and Philly, sub-ton pickup trucks, consumer-facing payment services, credit cards unless labeled Visa, CRM tools such as text-based collaboration software and auto ecommerce platforms. Buyers also told ADWEEK that the process for creative approval was fairly seamless. For approval, advertisers upload their creative to an ad group set with the specific PMP, and then it goes to NBCU for approval and quality assurance. Gilbert said advertisers had to upload creative by July 1. Going for programmatic gold The Paris Olympics have been one of the stars of NBCU's upfront event for the past two years. And, as of April, NBCU was on pace to pass its record for Olympic advertising, securing $1.2 billion in commitments. In addition, more than $350 million of this year’s $1.2 billion comes from new advertisers. Despite approaching the ad sales record, an influx of inventory comes since the Olympics are no longer tethered to linear, according to Ross Benes, senior analyst of TV and streaming at Emarketer. For example, NBCU previously announced that Peacock would stream 5,000 hours of the company's 7,000 hours of total coverage. "Peacock allows NBCU to program thousands of more hours than they would be able to otherwise," Benes said. "So they will also have more inventory to fill than in the past, and using programmatic to fill it makes sense."

TV Upfronts

Here's What NBCU Is Charging for the First Programmatic Olympics

Through a partnership with The Trade Desk, NBCU has three different offerings, according to buyers

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