By Karolos Grohmann
PARIS (Reuters) – From selfies with Samsung phones on the podium to Louis Vuitton cases at the opening ceremony, the Paris Olympics have widened the scope for sponsors’ product placement like never before, and this trend will continue in future Games, the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday.
The IOC saw revenues of $2.295 billion from its top sponsors for the period 2017-2021, the second biggest source of income for the Olympic movement, with broadcasters paying $4.544 billion over the same period.
No advertising is displayed in any of the competition venues where the Olympic rings are the only visible logos to audiences around the world.
But sponsors and broadcasters in Paris are enjoying more commercial opportunities for product placement or for using influencers and celebrity commentators, such as U.S. rapper Snoop Dogg, to tap into a younger audiences and markets.
The IOC said it was embracing that change and was facilitating it.
“The Games are unique to other major international sporting events for not having field-of-play advertising,” Anne-Sophie Voumard, the IOC’s Managing Director of Television and Marketing Services, told a press conference.
“We are trying to work with our partners to have a smooth organic integration and ways for us to be promoting their products.”
From its amateur beginnings to the gradual commercialisation of the Games after 1980, the Olympics have long been a multi-billion dollar event.
But under current president Thomas Bach, who took over in 2013, the total number of top sponsors, who sign multi-Games deals directly with the IOC and not the host cities, has increased to 15 from a limit of 11 once set by his predecessor Jacques Rogge.
Rogge had argued during his presidency that more sponsors could potentially dilute the impact of the Games.
RECORD REVENUES
For the period 2009-2012, just before Bach took over, top sponsor revenues were $950 million, less than half of the $2.295 billion for the previous quadrennium that ended in 2021 with the Tokyo Games.
“It is the direction we want to take. We want to be unique in our actions. This is the path that we are taking, deliberately, and you will see things evolve in that direction in future Games,” Voumard said of product placements and commercial opportunities in future editions of the Games.
Los Angeles will host the Summer Games in 2028 and Australia’s Brisbane has been picked for the 2032 edition.
Bach’s second term ends in 2025, when he will have been in charge for 12 years, but it is still unclear if and when he will step down.
Some members have proposed that Bach stay on despite a strict maximum 12-year-limit for presidents, but the German lawyer has said he will not discuss election matters before the end of the Paris Olympics.
Voumard said even if he left next year it would not affect any commercial partnerships.
“We have partnerships that span over a very, very long time,” she said. “There is little impact on those partnerships because it is really about what the Games can bring to our official partners. So I would say little impact.”
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Toby Davis)
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