Not since the record interest brought by the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding scandal of 1994 have the Winter Olympics seen so much success in viewers and advertising.
With the bad economy keeping families at home, the deathly luge accident, and the devilishly hard downhill ski course (with all eyes on Lindsey Vonn) contributing to a 25% rise in viewership (as compared to Torino '06), the advertisers are getting their money's worth.
Amazingly, for ads that ran during the opening ceremonies, brand recall levels were 40% higher than the prime-time average (read more). Brand recall is the relative consumer awareness of a brand within its product class. For instance, if I say "electronics" and you say "Best Buy," we'd say that Best Buy has strong brand recall.
Furthermore, with a 70% boost in message recall, it's clear that consumers are not only remembering the brands, they are remembering what the brands are saying. This proves that, like the Superbowl, the Olympics are a tremendous platform for TV advertising.
Despite the excitement, NBC is projected to lose $200 million during
this year's Olympics, but hopefully an unforeseen boost in its own
branding and longer-term viewership will help to revitalize the
struggling network. ...And I'm sure the NBC execs are banking on this side
effect as well, along with bringing back Jay as the late-night King of
course (RIP Conan...see you on Fox in September we hope!).
