Live From Paris 2024: NBC Olympics Mark Lazarus, Rick Cordella and Molly Solomon on the Success of the Paris Games Lazarus says Billion Dollar Lab drives ad sales but also lays foundation for future live events By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Friday, August 2, 2024 - 4:27 am
Print This Story
The past three Olympic Games, in South Korea, Japan, and China, challenged the NBC Olympics team (and viewers) with vast time zone differences and, of course, the Covid pandemic. So nearly everyone was waiting to see how the Paris Games would do not only ratings wise but in terms of an actual event with crowds at full capacity and one of the world's most beautiful cities as a backdrop.
On Thursday afternoon in Paris key NBC executives involved with the Games, Mark Lazarus, Chairman NBCUniversal Media Group; Rick Cordella, President, NBC Sports, and Molly Solomon, Executive Producer and President of NBC Olympics Production, held a media call to discuss all of those things and more with the media.
Lazarus said that the enthusiasm in Paris for the Olympics is reminiscent of the London 2012 Games and that with average viewership of 34 million viewers in the U.S. (up 79% from the Tokyo Games in 2021) NBC is off to a great start on TV and streaming.
The view from the NBC Olympics Primetime and Today Show sets is about as iconic as a view can get.
Driving that success was targeted marketing and promotion of the athletes, Paris, and Team USA.
As a result, NBC stations have been delivering big numbers for all the athletic competition, as well as their local news and all of their shoulder programming, he said.
And the streaming side has also found success.
At this point, we've got more than eight billion streaming minutes and counting with still plenty of time to continue to grow big numbers on that, he said. And speaking of billions, our ad sales has been very strong [and this is] our biggest ad sales total ever.
With the athletic competitions taking place six hours ahead of the East Coast back home the effort around Primetime coverage is unique and Lazarus credits the team for creating two shows at once: following the live action during the day and then creating the primetime show which airs in the U.S. when the city of lights is asleep and resting up for the next day.
It's a really complex piece of work, says Lazarus.
Explains Solomon: Every time you have an Olympics, you get a new time zone, a new puzzle, really, to put together. And we've gone back in time to remind ourselves that America, it doesn't matter if they know the results. They want to know the stories of the athletes and how it played out.
And so that's why the prime time shows, I think, are resonating. You can watch live in the afternoon if you're a sports fan and want a quick hit of it. But when you come back in prime time, you get to see how it all happens.
Mark Lazarus says the dedicated NBC Olympics production team, nearly 3,000 people strong, is driving the success NBC is finding with viewers and advertisers.
The top storyline for U.S. viewers has, clearly, been the performance of the American women's gymnastics team and women's all-around gold medalist Simone Biles. And the way NBC Olympics produced the gymnastics coverage is a perfect example of the live/not-live workflow. The gymnastics events end around 8 pm in Paris which is 2 pm on the East Coast, giving the team there some time to re-package it in the most compelling way possible.
If you've ever watched gymnastics live, it's pretty darn complex and complicated, says Solomon. But we're able to take a few hours to really lay out how it happened and the stories of the athletes [for primetime].
Cordella said Solomon and the team have done a fabulous job of taking prime time and doing something different with it that get viewers to tune in even if they know the results.
Historically the fear has been if results were known people would tune out and go somewhere else, says Cordella. But when you add the entertainment level that we've added to the prime-time show, we're seeing people come back and see it in a different light. We added context around big events, so if you saw Simone and the team win the medal on Tuesday, you're still happy to come back in the evening to see it again.
The Social Media Effect
There was a time, not too long ago, when the perception was that social media and its need for short-form content like highlights would negatively impact TV ratings, especially for events that have already taken place. But Cordella says products like Gold Zone on Peacock, Watch with Alex Cooper, and NBC's collaborations with YouTube and social media platform stars shows a different approach. The goal was to make the 7,000 hours of content sign in a new way on social media.
Molly Solomon has led the effort to turn the NBC Olympics Primetime programming slate more compelling for viewers who may already know the results of the competitions they are watching.
Added Solomon: I think we've very much leaned into the fact that if things are happening on social and you have unique content on social, it all flows through to promoting the Olympics and what's happening. And we really tried to integrate social into our broadcast as well because that's how we all experience media.
She pointed to coverage of French swimmer Leon Marchand's double gold on Wednesday night as an example of how the NBC Olympics team is using social media.
Our creators culled all of the reactions across Paris, and that wasn't possible without doubling down on creators and giving access to what's happening in France on social media, she said. I think it's really paid off in our broadcast presentation.
Lazarus said that social media and streaming is about distilling down th
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
02/03/2026
NBC Sports selected Imaginary Forces to create the main title sequence for the M...
02/03/2026
The NFL announces the launch of the NFL Draft Innovation Challenge, a new crowds...
02/03/2026
The World Teleport Association (WTA) has named Skyline Communications' DataMiner SatOps solution as a finalist for the 2026 Teleport Technology of the Year ...
02/03/2026
Ventum Tech announces a strategic partnership with Pixotope, a real-time graphic...
02/03/2026
Victory , a free, ad-supported sports streaming service, announces the launch of...
02/03/2026
Global powerhouse Delta Goodrem to represent Australia at this year's Eurovi...
02/03/2026
SBS brings together prominent voices to discuss rising social division and seek ...
02/03/2026
NITV Unveils Wednesday Night Sport Night
Media releases
A Midweek Hub for Blak Sport
Flagship NRL program Over The Black Dot moves to Wednesdays at 9:30pm
...
02/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz demonstrates FR1-FR3 carrier aggregation, advancing 6G readiness Rohde & Schwarz and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. have reached another pivotal ...
02/03/2026
MELBOURNE, Fla., March 2, 2026 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) today announc...
02/03/2026
Harvey Norman tops New Zealand's biggest ad spenders as retail leads and telcos and beverages sure Auckland March 3, 2026 - Nielsen's New Zealand'...
02/03/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, and Arqit Quantum Inc. (Nasdaq: ARQQ, A...
02/03/2026
Advanced Systems Group, LLC (ASG), a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, has appointed Jody Boatwright as Chief Strategy Of...
02/03/2026
Lightware, an industry leader in signal management, is reinforcing its commitment to simplifying complex AV environments with the continued evolution of its TPN...
02/03/2026
ZEISS Cinema opens its doors to an exclusive screening, filmmakers Q&A and hands-on showcase of the new ZEISS Aatma lens family on Tuesday, March 10, 6:00-9:00 ...
02/03/2026
To expand the creative potential of the compact Astera QuikBeam, DoPchoice introduces the SNAPBAG Round. The new light-shaping accessory transforms the powerfu...
02/03/2026
Douglas Dubler
On a rooftop in New York City, veteran photographer Douglas Dubler watched the sun's angle shift across the urban landscape, his internal cl...
02/03/2026
ZEISS is expanding its Otus ML lens family with the introduction of the new ZEISS Otus ML 1.4/35. This manual-focus lens is designed for photographers who live ...
02/03/2026
Matthews Studio Equipment now offers the new Dinkum Systems White FlexiMount and Phone Mount Kit, a compact, highly adaptable setup for mobile content creation...
02/03/2026
Luxembourg, February 26, 2026 - SES and Africa Mobile Network (AMN) have expande...
02/03/2026
02 03 2026 - Media release Ausfilm and Screen Australia launch joint UK market initiative
Ausfilm and Screen Australia have announced Partner with Australia (...
02/03/2026
Monday 2 March 2026
Saturday Night Live UK announces writing team
L-R: Jonno Johnson; Charlie Skelton; Celya AB; Omar Badawy; Gr inne Maguire; Laura Claxton; ...
02/03/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the Trailer for 53 Sundays, the New Film by Cesc Gay
Entertainment
02 March 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Dis...
28/02/2026
With two features seen in Formula 1 coverage, the broadcaster aims to bring view...
28/02/2026
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth addresses a crowd of approximately 1,500 L3Harris employees in Camden, Arkansas, as part of his Arsenal of Freedom tour....
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Berklee Presents Mambo Mania: Eguie Castrillo and the Berklee All-Stars Big Band...
28/02/2026
Berklee Announces Two New Summer Programs in Los Angeles The Berklee Music Business Program and Electronic Music Production and Sound Design Workshop bring imme...
28/02/2026
AI-RAN is moving from lab to field, showing that a software-defined approach is ...
28/02/2026
Autonomous networks - intelligent, self-managing telecommunications operations -...
28/02/2026
Back to All News
Final Trailer for BEASTARS Final Season Part 2' Roars Tow...
28/02/2026
New way to intentionally discover molecular glues could expand drug discovery Scripps Research scientists and colleagues show how drugs that eliminate certain d...
27/02/2026
The E.W. Scripps Company names Oliver Gray as Vice President, Network Sports and...
27/02/2026
The Gotham Sports App, the exclusive direct-to-consumer streaming home of MSG Networks and the YES Network, is now available for purchase through Prime Video fo...
27/02/2026
ESPN and the Horizon League announce a new multi-year, multi-platform media rights agreement, continuing a 38-year collaboration that began with the 1988 Midwes...
27/02/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, NETGEAR will highlight its new switch models and major updates to its Engage Controller software. The company's network d...
27/02/2026
Riedel Communications announces that Fondazione Teatro alla Scala has deployed a...
27/02/2026
Lyuno specializes in media localization, including translation, dubbing, subtitling, and voice-over services for a wide array of entertainment content. The comp...
27/02/2026
Chyron Weather 2.3, the latest edition of Chyron's weather visualization suite for broadcasters and meteorologists, recently launched.
The release includes...
27/02/2026
Telestream, which concentrates in media workflow technologies, announces expanded practical AI enhancements across its Vantage, Vantage Cloud, EDC, Stanza, and ...
Live From Paris 2024: NBC Olympics Mark Lazarus, Rick Cordella and Molly Solomon on the Success of the Paris Games Lazarus says Billion Dollar Lab drives ad sales but also lays foundation for future live events By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
