NBCUniversal says it has already hit gold from the Rio Olympics.
Speaking during Comcast’s earnings call Wednesday, NBCU CEO Steve Burke said the company expects to make “a lot more” from the Rio games than the $120 million profit it registered from the London games in 2012.
Burke said the company has already hit its advertising budget.
That’s weeks before the start of the games. Normally, Burke said, NBCU would hit its budget just as the games started or shortly thereafter. NBCU said ad sales were more than $1 billion back in March.
NBCU’s Olympic ad sales budget was up 20% from the London games, Burke said, “so we’re very, very happy with how we’re doing in terms of Olympic sales.”
Burke added that NBCU has found more ways to make money from the Olympics in addition to national advertising.
“We also have a lot of advertising in our own stations. We get paid an affiliate fee by cable and satellite and telco operators. And then we have a very big digital business. All those business look terrific,” he said.
Comcast and NBCU have locked up the TV rights to the Olympics through 2032.
