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 ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/07/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...
01/07/2026
Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...
01/07/2026
FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...
01/07/2026
NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...
01/07/2026
Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...
01/07/2026
England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...
01/07/2026
Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...
01/07/2026
DAZN has announced results from DAZN48, its creator initiative for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Launched in April 2026, the program received thousands of applicatio...
01/07/2026
Sarah Rose, VP, global services, Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT), will be inducted into the Information Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) Hall of Fame at t...
01/07/2026
Gravity Media and the World Economic Forum's production team provided broadc...
01/07/2026
Insight Productions has announced the launch of Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit built for esports production. The truck is built around a Ross Vi...
01/07/2026
ESPN has announced several content initiatives marking America's 250th anniversary, as part of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Celebrates America pro...
01/07/2026
Eleven production kits, REMI workflows, and cloud distribution bring 40 World Cu...
01/07/2026
The conference also discussed the opportunities offered an industry that is endu...
01/07/2026
The Mountain West Conference has announced the launch of MW , a direct-to-consumer streaming platform powered by Kiswe. The platform will carry live Mountain We...
01/07/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
01/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
01/07/2026
Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals
Sweetwater and Andertons M...
01/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...
01/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition
Brie Clayton July 1, 2026
0 Comments
Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...
01/07/2026
LONDON, UK, 1 JULY Jigsaw24 has appointed Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media and Entertainment, reinforcing its continued investment in helping broadcaster...
01/07/2026
Content Vault, the patent-pending secure content distribution platform protecting high-value media from disclosures, theft and unauthorised access, today announ...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. a leading provider of enterprise software and digital media solutions for news, sports and entertainment broadcasters, as well as streaming pla...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Groundbreaking First Nations Screen Business Accelerator launched through nation...
01/07/2026
Chyron Launches the All-New Chyron Academy: A Reimagined, Hands-On Learning Expe...
01/07/2026
Amplium Captures Kawasaki Brave Thunders Game with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersiv...
01/07/2026
Boris FX Optics Expands Plugin Support to Apple Photos, Capture One, and Affinit...
01/07/2026
UKTV has today announced the appointment of Matt Berry to the newly created role of General Manager - Marketing, effective 1 July.
Matt will take on this senio...
01/07/2026
Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign featuring Deborah Meaden challenges consumers to rethink everyday bathroom wasteWednesday 1 July 2026
Fussy asks Bri...
01/07/2026
Constituency-level analysis reveals where girls miss out most on sport - and where targeted action could unlock more than £640 million in economic and health be...
01/07/2026
Wuppertal July 1, 2026
Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive IntegrationRiedel Communications today announced an expanded collaboration wit...
01/07/2026
Apple today introduced power-packed updates to Apple Creator Studio, a groundbre...
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 
