Dive Brief:

• MediaRadar found that 482 advertisers have run TV spots during the Rio Olympic Games, with 349 of those brands also running digital display ad campaigns, according to Adweek.
• MediaRadar took data from NBC along with 6,000 websites. The research covered five media types: TV, display, native, digital and mobile ads.
• DirecTV led all brands with a total of 19 digital and TV campaigns between August 1 and August 15.

Dive Insight:

Brands that want to reach followers of the Olympics are going beyond just TV. As consumers increasingly live stream major TV events (and maybe even use second screens while doing so), advertisers are looking to digital and social channels to reach those users. 

Of the 349 brands running both TV and digital ads, 87 also ran native ads and 202 ran mobile advertisements. 22% of the advertisers in the study ran a digital video ad, with automotive being the top industry vertical, followed by retail, and media and entertainment. Out of the 482 total advertisers in the study, 32 ran campaigns in all five media types. 

While marketers may be excited that advertising to Olympics followers is no longer purely the realm of TV (where advertisements can be quite pricey), they should beware of the IOC's social media ban. Brands that aren’t official sponsors of the Olympic Games are now in a blackout period on social media, as the USOC has prohibited non-sponsor brands from using a number of hashtags and other actions. However, marketers can get involved in the fun as long as they don't run afoul of the USOC's guidelines, but the rules are causing confusion among marketers, with some questioning whether they are even enforceable.