By Max Goldbart, Jesse Whittock
This is how much athletes earn for winning medals at the Paris Olympics
For traditional television networks, the Summer Olympics in Paris feel like a turning point.
As hordes of sports fans descend on the French capital and camera crews prepare for what will undoubtedly be their most intense three-week period of the year, industry observers and those in the sports broadcasting world are quietly wondering whether the Olympics will hold the same candle as previous ones years. A just-released report from Ampere Analysis found that sponsorship revenues have grown at ten times the rate of media rights revenues since the last Games.
These musings come in a TV viewing market that is more saturated than ever. The jury is still out on the success of Peacock's move into sports streaming when it comes to the Games, while in Europe, Warner Bros. Discovery's (WBD) deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which has effectively sublicensed the US giant to cover the games to local broadcasters for the past decade, is about to expire. Meanwhile, traditional networks are putting a lot of energy into figuring out how to attract those elusive younger viewers to the games can pull in the age of social media, as American agents have penetrated the European sports world, striking deals here, there and everywhere with new platforms for their clients.
