CTV and Rogers pay big to snatch Olympic broadcast – will rates also go big?

A whopping $153 million U.S. joint bid from CTV and Rogers Communications has snatched the broadcast rights for the 2010 and 2012 Olympic games away from CBC, broadcaster of the games since 1996. With a record outlay for the Canadian rights, will Canadian Olympic advertisers also be paying record ad rates? Florence Ng, vice-president broadcast at ZenithOptimedia in Toronto, says it1s inevitable.

'With what they are paying for the broadcast rights, it is expected that the Olympic rates would go up especially for the 2010 Olympics. It's in Vancouver. It would generate a lot of demand for airtime/exposure.' Ng says she can't see CTV trying to recoup the dollars now by beginning to raise rates across the board because the network has been extremely aggressive with their pricing since June 2004.
By Patti Summerfield
February 8, 2005

A whopping $153 million U.S. joint bid from CTV and Rogers Communications has snatched the broadcast rights for the 2010 and 2012 Olympic games away from CBC, broadcaster of the games since 1996. With a record outlay for the Canadian rights, will Canadian Olympic advertisers also be paying record ad rates? Florence Ng, vice-president broadcast at ZenithOptimedia in Toronto, says it’s inevitable.

‘With what they are paying for the broadcast rights, it is expected that the Olympic rates would go up especially for the 2010 Olympics. It’s in Vancouver. It would generate a lot of demand for airtime/exposure.’ Ng says she can’t see CTV trying to recoup the dollars now by beginning to raise rates across the board because the network has been extremely aggressive with their pricing since June 2004.

Steve Aronovitch, broadcast investment manager at Starcom Worldwide in Toronto, says there’s nothing new about high rates for Olympics advertising. He says it has always been an expensive proposition for clients and one that generally works best for clients that can leverage their overall association with the games by being a Canadian Olympic Association sponsor as well. That being said, Aronovitch believes that with the breadth of coverage and platforms outlined in the CTV/Rogers plan, there may be room in 2010 and 2012 for advertisers whose pockets aren’t deep enough for sponsorship involvement. ‘I feel with the consortium of partners involved for the 2010 and 2012 games (Bell Globemedia and Rogers), there will be more opportunities for client’s and this will possibly allow access for those client’s that traditionally haven’t been able to afford advertising during the Olympics.’

The CTV/Rogers proposal calls for 24-hour-a-day coverage of the 2010 and 2012 Olympic games on CTV (English), TQS (French), and CTV-owned TSN, RDS, and Outdoor Life Network. Rogers will broadcast on Rogers Sportsnet, Omni 1 and 2 in Toronto, as well as its radio stations including the FAN, JACK-FM and KISS-FM franchises. Both Bell Mobility and Rogers Wireless will provide coverage via RIS mobile platforms.

CTV is owned by BCE Inc., the owner of Bell Canada which paid out $200 million CDN to be telecom sponsor of the 2010 Vancouver games. In 1998, CBC paid $165 million for rights to five Olympic Games, $73 million of that for the 2006 and 2008 games. The CTV/Rogers bid breaks down to $90 million U.S. for the 2010 Winter Games being held in Vancouver and $63 million U.S. for the 2012 Summer Games whose host city will be announced in July. The contenders are London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, and Paris.