NBCU is looking to best its Olympics high-mark set by the 2012 Summer Games, with Seth Winter, EVP of Sales and Sales Marketing at NBC Sports Group, stating that the company is on pace to break the $1 billion in ad revenue for this summer’s festivities. The company is reportedly asking for over $1 million for a :30 second spot in primetime. Winter stated that due to its location in Rio, coverage would feature more live hours than previous events with sponsors coming from a wide range of categories that include the automotive sector, insurance, quick-serve restaurants, motion pictures, technology, financial services, telecommunications, and packaged goods.

“I think part of reason why we see such an increase in sales is that we see a very, very strong, even stronger desire for live event programming, and I think all of you know that sports programming has really taken off lately,” said Winter. “Live programming has taken off, and people recognize the value of that. Our digital sales are going very, very well. We anticipate being up probably as much as 50% versus London, largely based on our capacity, the amount of sports that we have, the proliferation of digital devices. In the last four years, the increase in tablets and handsets is so much greater, and the appetite that advertisers have for that; the amount of social activity that we’ve seen and some of the conversations we’re having with some of the social companies, many of which we will be announcing in upcoming weeks.”