Records are being broken a month before the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics even get started.
Today, amid CES, NBCUniversal announced it had sold out of its Winter Olympics ad inventory, with a month still to go before the games. In the process, the company set a new Winter Olympics ad sales record, with the highest linear and digital revenue it’s ever recorded. Plus, the company scored a record number of advertisers. With the news, NBCU has sold out inventory for the Winter Olympics, the NBA All-Star Game, and the Super Bowl, which make up what the company calls its “Legendary February” programming.
“With the resurgence of the Olympic movement, our strongest sports upfront in history, the early sellout of Super Bowl LX, and the remarkable return of the NBA, NBCUniversal has solidified itself as a sports powerhouse, and brands have taken notice,” Mark Marshall, chairman, global advertising and partnerships, NBCUniversal, said in a statement.
Among other highlights, the Winter Olympics is adding more than 100 new advertisers for the upcoming Games. Of its total advertisers, 85% of brand partners are investing in Milan Cortina digitally, and advertiser adoption of Peacock’s ad innovations has grown 31% from Paris 2024 to Milan Cortina 2026, according to the company.
Plus, the company said nearly 60 advertisers are using unique marketing elements, up more than 174% from Beijing 2022.
“The upcoming Winter Games, surrounded by Super Bowl LX and NBA All-Star Weekend, will captivate a highly engaged and passionate audience at scale in a way that no other media company can for advertisers,” Peter Lazarus, evp, NBC Sports & Olympics, advertising and partnerships, said.
NBCU’s previous record for Winter Olympics ad sales came from the 2018 PyeongChang Games ceremonies, which reportedly generated around $1.15 billion in total revenue. The company recently set the record for ad sales for the Summer Games as well, bringing in more than $1.25 billion for Paris 2024.
