FreeWheel and NBCU’s Programmatic Partnership For Paris 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics Contributes to Record-Breaking Streaming Event for Advertisers

Rhea-AI Summary

FreeWheel, a global TV technology platform, announced record-breaking results from powering advertising for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The company served a record number of ads and programmatic impressions for a live event, helping NBCUniversal increase participating advertisers by 90%. This contributed to NBCU's record ad revenue for the Olympics, which reached a daily average of 30.4 million viewers, an 82% increase from the Tokyo Olympics.

Key achievements include:

• 23.5 billion minutes of Olympics coverage streamed, led by Peacock
• Highest advertising revenue in Olympics history for NBCU
• Peak concurrency during Team USA Men's Basketball Final

FreeWheel and NBCU will continue their partnership for the upcoming NFL season, leveraging new live product capabilities to enhance programmatic transactions and expand advertiser diversity.

Positive

• Record number of ads and programmatic impressions served for a live event
• 90% increase in number of participating advertisers
• NBCU achieved record ad revenue for the Olympics
• 82% increase in daily average viewers compared to Tokyo Olympics
• 23.5 billion minutes of Olympics coverage streamed
• Partnership extension for NFL season with new live product capabilities

Negative

• None.

Market Research Analyst

The partnership between FreeWheel and NBCU for the 2024 Paris Olympics marks a significant shift in advertising strategies for major live events. The 90% increase in advertisers and record-breaking ad revenue highlight the effectiveness of programmatic advertising in reaching a broader audience. This success is likely to influence future advertising approaches across the industry, particularly for high-profile live events.

The 82% increase in viewership compared to the Tokyo Olympics, coupled with 23.5 billion minutes of streamed content, underscores the growing importance of digital platforms in sports broadcasting. This trend could accelerate the shift of ad budgets from traditional TV to streaming services, potentially impacting the valuation of media companies heavily invested in either space.

As FreeWheel extends this approach to the NFL season, we may see a democratization of advertising opportunities for smaller brands, potentially disrupting the dominance of traditional big-budget advertisers in prime-time sports events.

Tech Expert

FreeWheel's success in handling unprecedented concurrency loads during the Olympics, especially during high-stakes events like the USA Men's Basketball Final, demonstrates significant advancements in ad-tech infrastructure. This capability is important for the future of live event streaming, where unpredictable viewership spikes can occur.

The integration of programmatic technology with live streaming at this scale is a technical milestone. It allows for real-time ad insertion and targeting, potentially improving ad relevance and viewer experience. This could lead to higher engagement rates and better ROI for advertisers.

FreeWheel's expansion into NFL coverage, including Sunday Night Football, suggests that their technology is scalable and adaptable to various live event formats. The certification of their Beeswax DSP for live events buyers indicates a move towards more accessible and efficient ad buying processes in the streaming ecosystem.

Financial Analyst

NBCU's achievement of record ad revenue for the 2024 Olympics signals a strong return on investment for their digital advertising strategy. The 90% increase in advertiser participation suggests a broader revenue base, which could lead to more stable and predictable ad income for future events.

The success of this programmatic approach could potentially increase the value of streaming rights for major sporting events, as broadcasters can now monetize these events more effectively. This might lead to higher bidding prices for future Olympic broadcasts and similar high-profile live events.

For FreeWheel, owned by Comcast, this success could translate into increased market share and revenue growth in the competitive ad-tech sector. The expansion to NFL coverage presents an opportunity for sustained growth beyond one-off events, potentially boosting Comcast's ad-tech division's contribution to overall company performance.

Leveraging programmatic technology aided in NBCU’s record ad revenue totals, enabled increase in number of advertisers by 90%.

Companies will now work together to bring the approach to the NFL Season; FreeWheel’s DSP Beeswax is certified for buyers looking to appear in live events including Sunday Night Football.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- FreeWheel, a global technology platform for the TV industry, announced today the results of its work powering the advertising of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Throughout the event, FreeWheel served a record number of ads and programmatic impressions for a live event, enabling NBCUniversal to further open inventory to new advertisers, with an increase in the number of advertisers participating by 90%.

As NBCU’s digital ad insertion and programmatic platform for the 2024 Olympics, FreeWheel was responsible for enabling programmatic access to advertisers while delivering on all of NBCU’s direct sold and sponsorship ad commitments. According to NBCU, the 2024 Olympics drove record ad revenue for the company and reached a daily average of 30.4 million viewers, an increase of 82% compared to the Tokyo Olympics. Led by Peacock, 23.5 billion minutes of Paris Olympics Games coverage were streamed.

“FreeWheel’s programmatic approach to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games provided opportunities for new brands to be part of the most spectacular event of year,” said Alison Levin, President of Advertising & Partnerships, NBCUniversal. “With them as partners, we not only delivered a more seamless advertising experience for our viewers, but we were also able to secure the highest advertising revenue in the history of the Games. This is a whole new approach for live advertising that allows for a diverse group of clients to engage with consumers, and we look forward to building on this success with FreeWheel in the future.”

Delivering impressions in a seamless way across screens is particularly challenging for live events, which have unexpected spikes in viewership, and run in a no-fail environment. In the 2024 Olympics, FreeWheel broke concurrency records regularly throughout the event, peaking during Team USA Men’s Basketball Final.

“Streaming has changed the way we all watch our favorite live programming, and programmatic has changed the way those ads are bought, sold, and delivered,” said Mark McKee, General Manager, FreeWheel. “The 2024 Olympics games have opened up the door for programmatic advertising in ways we’ve never seen before. With NBCU, our goal was to bring new technology, better infrastructure, and greater scale to this year’s Olympics, and the numbers speak for themselves. In many ways, these Olympics were a watershed moment for advertising—NBCU has ushered in a new era of programmatic advertising, and the industry is watching.”

As advertisers today try to uncover the most cost- and time-efficient ways to activate live event advertising in streaming environments, many are turning to programmatic buying, which can provide greater automation and increased spend efficiency than traditional approaches.

FreeWheel has a proven track record powering live events, many with programmatic buying. Leading up to the Olympics, FreeWheel has powered the advertising for the World Cup, March Madness, NFL Playoffs, and Super Bowl, as well as seasonal and daily live events and programming. For the upcoming NFL season, NBCU will be leveraging FreeWheel’s new suite of live product capabilities to better enable their programmatic transactions and expand advertiser diversity by increasing inventory opportunities; additionally, FreeWheel’s Beeswax DSP is certified for buyers looking to appear in live events including Sunday Night Football.

About FreeWheel

FreeWheel empowers all segments of The New TV Ecosystem. We are structured to provide the full breadth of solutions the advertising industry needs to achieve their goals. We provide the technology, data enablement and convergent marketplaces required to ensure buyers and sellers can transact across all screens, across all data types, and all sales channels, in order to ensure the ultimate goal – results for marketers. With offices in New York, Chicago, London, Paris, Beijing, and across the globe, FreeWheel, A Comcast Company, stands to advocate for the entire industry through the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video. For more information, please visit https://www.freewheel.com/, and follow us on X and LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240912542297/en/

Media:

Meredith Fitzgerald

215-970-8504

Meredith_Fitzgerald@Comcast.com

Source: FreeWheel

FAQ

How did FreeWheel's technology impact NBCU's 2024 Paris Olympics advertising?

FreeWheel's technology helped NBCU achieve record ad revenue, increase participating advertisers by 90%, and serve a record number of ads and programmatic impressions for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

What was the daily average viewership for the 2024 Paris Olympics on NBCU platforms?

The 2024 Paris Olympics reached a daily average of 30.4 million viewers on NBCU platforms, an 82% increase compared to the Tokyo Olympics.

How many minutes of 2024 Paris Olympics coverage were streamed?

23.5 billion minutes of Paris Olympics Games coverage were streamed, primarily led by Peacock.

What future plans do FreeWheel and NBCU have for their partnership?

FreeWheel and NBCU plan to continue their partnership for the upcoming NFL season, including Sunday Night Football, leveraging new live product capabilities to enhance programmatic transactions and expand advertiser diversity.