Laughing All the Way to the Bank: Rio Olympics Make NBC $250 Million Richer
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While the ratings for the 2016 Summer Olympics didn’t quite measure up to NBC’s early projections, the Peacock still managed to strut away from Rio with a tidy profit of over a quarter-billion dollars.
Speaking Wednesday at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference, NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke characterized the Olympics as a “tremendous success,” adding that the company “made over $250 million in Rio,” thanks to a 20% increase in ad sales volume compared to what it took in during the London Games.
The Rio cash surplus more than doubled the $120 million NBC pocketed four years ago in London. Mr. Burke noted that the profit marked a stark contrast versus the NBC-produced Olympics of yesteryear, when the network would lose as much as $200 million on the 17-day event.
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