• by Ken Liebeskind , February 8, 2002

The Olympics haven’t even started yet and NBC has already won a gold.

“We surpassed our target of $720 million in sales,” said network spokesman Kevin Sullivan. Speaking from Utah yesterday, the day before the games begin, Sullivan said the Olympics is virtually sold out. “There are a few more pieces of business left, but it will close within a few days.

“Given the current marketplace, it’s extraordinary we’ve been able to surpass our goal. It shows the power of the Olympics brand,” he said.

He said sales were slow after Sept. 11, but picked up in December. “We always felt we’d be able to reach our goal because of the high ratings.”

The network won’t disclose ad prices, but there are reports that 30-second spots are fetching $600,000, far more than the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, also on NBC, when 30 seconds averaged $252,451, according to CMR.

The games run for 17 days to Feb. 24, with more than 375 hours of coverage. The fact that the games are in the U.S. means most will be broadcast live, a boon for advertisers.

NBC paid $545 million for the rights to the Salt Lake City Games, part of a $3.5 billion package for five Olympics through 2008.

Some of the advertising was sold in packages that may run through 2008, Sullivan says. Multi-games deals were sold to more than 50 advertisers, with advertising running on MSNBC and CNBC as well as NBC.

Among the advertisers are Coca Cola, McDonalds, Anheuser Busch, Home Depot, Visa, UPS and General Electric.

It has been reported the games will generate 15 to 20 percent of the ad revenue for NBC this year. "It will be one of the pluses this year and hopefully turn ad spending trends around," says Robert Coen, director of forecasting at Universal McCann.

Last week, Super Bowl stories mentioned the competition from the Olympics. In the end, both events will be seen as winners. Fox sold out the Super Bowl and generated about $120 million at rates of $2 million per 30-second spot, although the rates were slightly lower than last year. Now, NBC is selling out the Olympics, which will be the year's highlight for the network.