The pace of sales for the Salt Lake City Games in February had slowed dramatically at many local NBC affiliates across the US, with some stations managing to sell less than half of their available inventory.
For the last US-based Olympic event, the Atlanta Games (1996), 90 percent of advertising at NBC had been sold one year before the event.
However, with a little over four months to go, NBC has now sold more than 90 percent of its Salt Lake inventory and remains in fairly good shape. "Olympic sales have been slower than desired for the last four to five months," said Jack Sander, president of Belo's TV group. "I think it reflects the economy and advertisers' slower roll-out of 2002 plans and strategy.
"I think sales will be fine but late in coming," added Sander, who expects a further acceleration in the latter part of the fourth quarter.
“The September 11 events probably exacerbated the situation,” he added. As a result, many executives believe those events have galvanized the nation's sense of patriotism and the flag will feature prominently in the coming campaigns.
