• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, August 15, 2016

NBCUniversal has been posting record ad revenue results at $1.2 billion during this Olympics, with another $30 million in recent ad deals since the game started. But what about the other key TV marketing component: the on-air promotion of NBCU shows during the event?

Turns out that two new NBC fall dramas have so far received the most TV ad impressions during the Games: “Timeless” and “This Is Us,” at 142.5 million and 137 million respectively, according to iSpot.tv. New comedy “The Good Place” has pulled in 89 million impressions.

After the top two dramas, Comcast/Xfinity cable service grabbed 124.6 million. Two big returning NBC series -- “Sunday Night Football” and “The Voice” -- had 101.5 million and 68 million, respectively.

But these numbers may not mean much, according to history, since many NBC Olympics haven’t really added much to the launch of new shows. For the Summer Games, this fact may have something to do with the fall launch schedule of TV shows -- now spread out, with some shows starting in the third week in September, others beginning late in October.

Increasingly there is a lot of media disruption and distraction. There’s a lot of time between early August and October; media consumption waits for no one.

That’s not all. Viewers of the NBC Olympics have more ad clutter of a different kind to deal with. Marketers who are not even official Olympic sponsors can now use athletes in their advertising during the Olympics -- with a bunch of restrictions.

You can’t blame TV marketing executives for touting new shows during big events.  The Olympics remain one of the biggest multiday TV events, with anywhere from 25 million to 30 million viewers watching in prime time per night over the course of 16 days. That is a big deal.

But for the rest of the TV season, there is a decreasing supply of high-rated shows against which to promote new shows .

Turn to social media for help in marketing those new TV shows? Content marketing? Digital outdoor billboards? Radio? Maybe cross-network marketing? TV needs to find more ways for program promotion.