Business

NBC mum on games profit

NBCUniversal, which runs the NBC broadcast and cable networks, said earlier this week that it had sold a record $1 billion of US television and digital advertising for the 2012 London Olympics; however, the media company remained silent on whether it would be able to turn a profit on the games.

The network said the figure, which includes ad sales across all NBCUniversal platforms airing coverage of the summer games that started this week, was some $150 million more than its total for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

NBCUniversal, a unit of Comcast Corp., paid $1.18 billion for the US rights to broadcast the 2012 Olympics and executives said last month the jury was still out on whether it would make money from the event.

Network chiefs provided no profit update this week after releasing the latest ad sales figures. NBC reported a loss of some $223 million from the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010.

NBCUniversal said digital ad sales surpassed $60 million, about three times more than the total for Beijing, reflecting the push to live stream every athletic competition on the NBCOlympics.com website and via an app for mobile devices and tablets.

The network is presenting a record 5,535 total hours of coverage for the London games across its broadcast as well as its cable channels.