The 2020 Tokyo Olympics & Your Local Business: How to Advertise Around This Global Event

There’s no single event that captures an audience like the Olympics. Quite simply, the Games of XXXII Olympiad from Tokyo, Japan, will be the biggest media event of 2021, with NBCUniversal providing more than 7,000 hours of programming and reaching roughly 200 million U.S. viewers.¹

A perfect storm of variables will contribute to this massive audience. To start, the Tokyo Olympics will feature a record number of sports and events to attract viewers to broadcasts. In addition, NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Tokyo Olympics plans to offer more digital and on-demand content than ever before, giving viewers more content and more choice in building their own personal viewing experience.

With this year’s Games being hosted in Tokyo, the 13-hour time difference from the U.S. is ideal for scheduling live primetime events. Events scheduled for 10 AM in Japan will air in the ideal time slot in the United States – 9 PM on the east coast and 6 PM on the west coast – to maximize live viewers. As always, the Olympics brings families together more than other types of televised content, with 95 percent of U.S. viewers reporting that they view they Olympic Games as a “family-friendly event.”²

Despite its global reach and massive audience, advertising around the Olympic Games isn’t restricted to the world’s biggest brands. Local businesses have many different options to build a strategy around this sporting event, and to seize upon valuable opportunities that generate revenue for your brand.

As you develop a Tokyo Olympics advertising strategy, here are some tips to prioritize your efforts.

Think Beyond Primetime

Primetime viewing for the Olympics event may be the centerpiece of this weeks-long global event, but it’s far from the only option when using Olympic events to connect with an audience. If your local business finds the ad inventories built around primetime Olympics broadcasts – which could come at a premium due to the heightened competition – are beyond your advertising budget, your business should be exploring all of the advertising opportunities available. The Tokyo Olympics events will be presented throughout the day across the networks of NBCUniversal, and these may offer more affordable advertising inventories for your business. Between live broadcasts and re-aired events occurring outside of ideal viewing windows for U.S. audiences, your ad strategy can target inventories that extend your reach with a relevant, engaged audience at a better potential price.

Explore Ever-Growing Digital Video Options

Digital video has been a welcome addition to the viewing experience. This is great news for local businesses, giving them more choice in where and how they advertise, as well as more diverse ad products to choose from.

Your business can use multiple ad formats and ad targeting filters to deliver diverse ads targeted carefully to core customer segments. This wide range of options lets you build a Tokyo Olympics ad strategy that utilizes multiple campaigns and channels to reach targeted audience segments and maximize your potential ROI.

Target Second-Screen Experiences and Other Supplemental Digital Content

Opportunities are endless for fans to engage with the Olympic Games. From long-form features to social content, second-screen viewing is bound to increase audience engagement with NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Tokyo Olympics, which in turn creates new advertising opportunities for local businesses. As these innovative ad opportunities take shape, local businesses should be aggressive in seeking out these inventive ad products, which could play a valuable role in your overall ad strategy.

Given the abundance of choice and the limited-time nature of this event, there’s little time to fine-tune your strategy and optimize campaigns over time. Instead, you need a comprehensive advertising strategy that’s built for success right from the start.

A digital advertising partner can help you plan out a successful ad strategy around this year’s Tokyo Olympics. Contact us today to get started.

Sources: (1) Nielsen, Live+SD data stream; (2) 2018 Attitudinal Research Study, conducted using a gen pop sample A18-64, top 2 box agreement on a 5 point scale