Dan Lovinger: Last News

NBCUniversal still considers the Olympic Games to be “the great aggregator of viewership,” in the words of top exec Dan Lovinger, and sees 2024 revenue for Paris on pace to exceed the tally of the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Dan Lovinger, who recently spearheaded NBCUniversal‘s advertising bonanza at the Paris Olympics, is among a handful of employees exiting the company amid a broad restructuring of its ad exec ranks.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Dan Lovinger, who supervised an increasingly complex Olympics ad-sales effort for NBCUniversal and delivered what is believed to be a record level of Madison Avenue sponsorship for the recent Paris Olympics, is leaving the company as it seeks to revamp its efforts to lure advertisers to sports. NBCU in 2022 assigned Lovinger to a new role overseeing all efforts to sell ads for the Olympics and Paralympics, separating him from the rest of the company’s sports sales.

Six Team USA advertising partners are teaming to make the first hour of NBCUniversal‘s coverage of Friday’s Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics commercial-free.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Can six Olympics advertisers come together to create an hour of the Paris extravaganza that runs commercial-free? Coca-Cola Co., Delta, Eli Lilly & Co., Toyota Motor Corp., Visa, and Comcast’s Xfinity will sponsor a live hour of coverage of the Olympics Games Opening Ceremony that will air without the traditional interruptions from advertisers. In their place? Each member of the Madison Avenue sextet will have its logo appear in the upper right-hand corner of the screen during the program for approximately ten minutes, according to Dan Lovinger, president of Olympic and Paralympic partnerships for NBCUniversal, and those familiar markings will roll out in alphabetical order.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Most contests in the 2024 Summer Olympics set for Paris, France, won’t start until next summer. NBC has been running one race for months.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorA new NBCUniversal advertising executive is taking on the task of tackling advertisers to link themselves to such sports properties as “Sunday Night Football” and the soon-to-launch USFL.Peter Lazarus will take the lead on selling ads behind the bulk of NBCUniversal’s sports programming, part of a gradual overhaul of the company’s work behind connecting Madison Avenue with some of TV’s biggest and most-watched properties.Lazarus has been named executive vice president of sports ad-sales, taking up responsibilities previously held by Dan Lovinger, a longtime NBCU ad-sales exec who has been assigned to focus more intently on the company’s efforts behind Olympics advertising. Lovinger was elevated to president in January and will lead Olympics ad-sales efforts as NBCU works harder to fulfill a commitment it has made along the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, pledging to offer long-term deals to partners for TV, digital, and live event advertising, as well as brand activations and associations with Team USA.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorPaul Wilson never ran a 10,000 meter race at the Olympics, but he sure must feel like it.Wilson has supervised much of the work that NBCUniversal’s ad-sales team has had to do over the past two decade to make the company’s investment in the Olympics pay off. He is stepping down from his role as senior vice president of Olympics ad sales at NBCU, ending a streak of selling commercial inventory for the past ten editions of the Games, eight as the leader — making him directly responsible for $10 billion in ad revenue.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorDan Lovinger, a veteran ad-sales executive who has helped supervised outreach to advertisers for NBCUniversal venues ranging from prime-time TV shows to “Sunday Night Football” and the Super Bowl, is getting a new assignment.Lovinger will oversee all efforts aimed at getting advertisers to sponsor NBCUniversal’s Olympics and Paralympics broadcasts, a pillar of the company’s programming strategy representing hundreds of hours worth of some of TV’s highest-priced inventory. Lovinger, who had been an executive vice president, has been elevated to president, and will report directly to Linda Yaccarino, NBCU’s global chairman of advertising sales and partnerships.

The Super Bowl is around the corner again, and advertisers are spending big bucks on spots during the game!

All but a handful of ads on next February’s Super Bowl on NBC have been sold, fetching as much as $6.5 million for 30 seconds, according to the latest report from NBCUniversal ad execs.

By Brian Steinberg