NBCUniversal, coming off a successful Olympics and Paralympics run in Paris, is restructuring its sports ad sales team and saying goodbye to the executive who led ad sales for the games.
Dan Lovinger, who served as president of Olympic and Paralympic sales, will be leaving the company. NBCU has opted to merge its entire sports ad sales operations into one unit to create a unified strategy for sales across all of its sports franchises.
Peter Lazarus has been chosen to lead the new combined division as executive vice president, according to Alison Levin, president of advertising sales.
The goal of this new combined vision is to better serve advertisers looking to reach sports audiences across various platforms. In an age where cable TV subscriptions are declining and viewers are watching content later, live sports have remained a strong draw for both traditional and streaming platforms. Therefore, it's no surprise that there's a desire to maximize the potential of ad sales in this area.
During his time at NBCU, Lovinger spearheaded sales efforts for the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Paris, including the implementation of programmatic buying for streaming ads.
Prior to the games, the division emphasized its dedication to creating customized solutions to meet marketing objectives.
Looking ahead, NBC has another round of Olympics in 2026, plus will return to broadcasting NBA games next season, offering an expanded ad inventory. NBCU is likely to continue encouraging viewers to use its streaming service, Peacock, for sporting events, with more broadcasts being sent exclusively to the streaming platform with extensive advertising support.