The Olympics ‘Halo Effect’: What it is, and How it Benefits Your Advertising Strategy

Later this summer, more than three billion global consumers will be tuning in to watch the 2024 Paris Olympics. Thousands of hours of cable TV coverage on the networks of NBCUniversal—including live broadcasts, replays of earlier events, competition recaps and other original programming—will offer incredible ad inventories for businesses planning their Olympics media buys and factoring in Olympic advertising tactics.

But the sheer size of these audiences is only part of the value of advertising around this multi-week event. Compared to other live sporting events, the Olympics offer a unique advertising advantage that businesses won’t find anywhere else.

It’s called the ‘halo effect,’ and it can be your ticket to generating better ad campaign performance than ever before. Read on to learn more about this phenomenon and what it offers your cable TV advertising strategy.

Using the Olympics ‘Halo Effect’ to Boost Your Brand’s Reputation

The Olympics halo effect refers to the increased trust and affinity businesses are able to generate when advertising around or aligning themselves with the Olympics. Data from past broadcasts has found that audiences respond to this advertising differently, compared to any other sporting event or comparable TV product.

According to Ipsos, the Olympics halo effect produces audiences that are more likely to:

• Trust the advertisers appearing during Olympic programming;
• Feel a stronger connection to those advertisers;
• Believe those advertisers care about their communities.

This reputational boost can have a direct impact on advertising outcomes and ROI, turning the Olympics into a unique brand-building opportunity for local and national brands.

How Paris 2024 Can Help Generate Higher Ad Campaign ROI

It’s clear that Olympic TV coverage on the networks of NBCUniversal facilitates more positive associations and greater engagement for ads appearing during that content. But many businesses have also identified measurable performance gains as a result of their Olympic advertising investment.

Market research of past Olympics have found that the average brand has used Olympic advertising campaigns to achieve the following gains in ad performance:

• 49 percent increased brand loyalty
• 54 percent greater brand differentiation
• 39 percent more relevance as compared to competitors
• 42 percent higher message memorability vs. other programming

In other words, businesses are using Olympic advertising to increase brand visibility, achieve greater recall for branded ads and messaging, and lay a foundation for better customer retention—all while outperforming the competition.

As businesses plan out their media buys around the 2024 Paris Olympics, these performance gains should be top-of-mind. Higher returns for cable TV advertising could result in soaring ROI that can’t be duplicated outside of the unique opportunity offered by The Olympics.

Turning Olympic Ad Engagement Into a Better Brand Experience

Increased engagement for Olympic content has a direct positive impact on Olympic ad engagement. This helps businesses use their TV advertising to cultivate a better brand experience for existing and potential customers.

According to research from NBCU, audiences seeking out Olympic content are far more likely to seek out information about Olympic advertisers. Similarly, audiences that recommend Olympic content to other people are far more likely to recommend products and services promoted through Olympic advertising.

This engagement plays a critical role in elevating and strengthening brands among their target audience, including a 35 percent increase in brand consideration.

A Q3 Advertising Opportunity Like No Other

While the 2024 Paris Olympics is unrivaled as the world’s most popular sporting event, it also offers the added benefit of taking place at the perfect time in the live sports calendar. Over its 17-day run, NBCU expects its 2024 Paris Olympic Games coverage to reach more than 170 million unique viewers.

The scale of that viewership is equivalent to the reach offered by all top streamers and networks combined across all of Q3. Don’t let this one-of-a-kind opportunity pass your business by. Connect with Cox Media’s experts today to plan a TV media buy strategy that will fit your brand’s advertising goals and help you capitalize on the performance boost that only The Olympics can offer.

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