NBCUniversal and its parent company Comcast have signed a $3 billion deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to cover every Summer Olympics game up to 2036.
This deal will give NBC the rights to broadcast events over the air, while their streaming service Peacock will be able to livestream the games. In addition to the Summer Olympics, NBC also announced that they have acquired the rights to the Winter Olympics up until 2034, which are also expected to broadcast on NBC and stream on Peacock.
NBC has had a long and fruitful relationship with the IOC; they have broadcast every summer Olympics for the United States since 1988 and every Winter Olympics since 2002. Given the history the two share, it is incredibly likely that this relationship will continue past 2036. It is a great deal that benefits both companies—Peacock and NBC see a massive boost in viewership while the IOC enjoys an accessible way for Americans to watch their programming. Just last year, the Summer Olympics averaged around 30 million viewers and made more than $1.25 billion in advertisements. It is clear that both parties still have a lot to gain from continuing this multigenerational partnership.
Last year’s Olympics were particularly helped by Peacock’s introduction of the Gold Zone, a special program that switched focus at a rapid pace to capture only the most exciting points of a match—imagine switching to a National Football League (NFL) game at the final touchdown, then to a National Basketball Association (NBA) game at the final basket. The Gold Zone managed to keep audiences engaged while demonstrating what makes these games so exciting. The Gold Zone was an idea that had never been introduced in the Olympics before, and has since been highly anticipated for the Olympics games moving forward.
Peacock and NBC have demonstrated that they know how to handle the Olympics, and now fans can look forward to a few more years between the two companies.
