The 2024 Paris Olympics kicked off Friday — and the Games are set to be historic in more ways than one.

Olympic ad spending has been on a tear, with Comcast's NBCUniversal (CMCSA) seeing record-breaking revenue for the Games. In April, the network said it was on track to set a new record after already notching $1.2 billion in advertising commitments, with $350 million of that total coming from ad buyers who had never bought during the Olympics before.

And for the first time, NBC's streaming service Peacock will be live-streaming all 329 medal events, encompassing over 5,000 hours.

"NBC is having a very, very good advertising process because they're doing it the modern way," said Mark Douglas, CEO at MNTN, one of the largest buyers of TV advertising in the US. MNTN is also actively involved in this year's Olympic ad-buying process.

The modern way, in Douglas's view, includes both traditional Upfront ad deals through linear television and programmatic ad buys through Peacock, which allows smaller brands to create more niche advertising campaigns.

In other words, streaming and other digital platforms will play more of a major role this year than ever before.

"Paris will be the first true multiplatform Olympics, which will allow for coordinated campaigns across linear, social, digital, gaming, radio, and podcasts," David Dellea, partner at global consulting firm Altman Solon, explained to Yahoo Finance.

"TikTok is generating huge buzz among sponsors for reaching younger consumers, as is Roblox ... for interactive gaming," he said. "Every rights holder related to the Games is finding new pathways to reach and engage viewers, delivering a more personalized, more 'lean-in' experience relative to what we have seen before."

NBC alluded to this digital-forward strategy during its April update, with NBCUniversal president Dan Lovinger revealing that "digital advertising revenue for this year is already setting a new record, surpassing any digital ad revenue in the history of the Games."

Olympic ad buyers are also paying "very healthy" CPM rates, or the cost per one thousand ads, according to Douglas, who could not reveal the exact figures, as they're confidential.

"But they're up there in the major sporting event categories," he said. "So I think the willingness of advertisers and their desire to be part of these Games and pay those rates seems to be very, very high."

Inventory levels have also been healthy due to the influx of content that streaming provides, with ad buyers not only able to access the actual live events but also the post-game analysis, the pregame, and everything in between.

"All of that is being considered part of the Olympics," Douglas said, adding advertisers just want to be part of the Games in some form. "That's creating a lot of available inventory, but also accessible inventory."

At the end of the day, Douglas said, "you have reach consumers where they are. That's the umbrella of what you're seeing."

Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at [email protected].

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