Focus: Paris Olympics on track to hit NBC ad sales record after pandemic

April 9 (Reuters) - As the July opening ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympics draws closer, U.S. broadcaster NBCUniversal is seeing renewed interest from major corporate sponsors in the premier global sporting event as fans are expected to fill Olympic stadiums for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Comcast (CMCSA.O)New Tab, opens new tab-owned NBCU said on Tuesday it has sold $1.2 billion in advertising for the Paris games and is on track to achieve a new sales record in Olympic history. The company paid $7.65 billion to renew its broadcast rights deal through 2032, the largest deal in the world for the games.

Ad spending from International Olympic Committee (IOC) sponsors is currently up 18% from the previous summer Olympics in Tokyo that took place in 2021, said Dan Lovinger, president of Olympic and Paralympic sales at NBCU, in an interview.

The announcement represents a rebound from previous years. In recent Olympics, IOC sponsors reduced their ad spending with the media company, according to a former NBCU executive and a second person familiar with the ad sales.

IOC sponsors, which include major brands like Visa, Toyota and Procter & Gamble, pay upwards of an estimated $100 million for the right to use the famous Olympic rings in their marketing materials.

The growth can be attributed to Paris being the first Olympics to allow all spectators since the pandemic, and with a more favorable time zone for U.S. audiences after three Olympics in Asia, Lovinger said.

"Very few properties can help (brands)...
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