graphic
News
NBC takes Olympic gold
July 22, 1996: 9:07 p.m. ET

Huge Olympic Games audience comes at a high price.
From Correspondent Carmine Gallo
graphic
graphic graphic
graphic
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - An estimated 80 million people watched the Olympic Games in Atlanta this weekend. No one is more pleased than NBC.
     The network's ratings for opening ceremonies were up 70 percent over ratings for the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
     NBC executives, Olympic sponsors, and advertisers expected a large number of viewers to tune in for the centennial Olympic Games, but many are surprised at just how many people the games are attracting. Just over 40 percent of the viewers watching television over the weekend were tuned to the games.
     Wall Street analysts are not surprised, however. Stuart Rossmiller, media analyst for Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, believes that the Olympic torch run through the United States provided the combustion for the ratings.
     "It has a phenomenon of rooting for the hometown. Now, the hometown is Atlanta, not Barcelona. The torch has been run over hill and dale, everyone knows the torch was going to Atlanta. It's been great advertising for NBC."
     The network is banking on that hometown appeal. General Electric, NBC's parent company, paid nearly $500 million just for the broadcast rights. It will have to take in much more than that to cover production costs and make a profit but there are plenty of companies paying big money to be at the party.
     "You've got global marketers. This is the ultimate global stage. The Budweisers, the IBMs, it's something they want to be part of . The commercials are specially designed Olympic commercials. They don't just run regular advertising."
     Advertising executives expect the high ratings to continue. So, apparently, does General Electric. It has shelled out $3.5 billion for the rights to Olympic games through the year 2008. Back to top

  RELATED STORIES

Nike's Olympic ambush - July 19, 1996

  RELATED SITES

CNN Interactive - The Olympic Games

The Official 1996 Olympics home page


Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney




graphic

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.