NBC Sports Exec VP/Sales & Marketing Seth Winter said that the company's NHL ad sales are "pacing about 5% ahead of last season" for telecasts on NBC and NBCSN, according to John Consoli of BROADCASTING & CABLE. Ad revenues are "expected to get more of a boost in the coming weeks when the NHL announces the identities of a few more league partners." NHL Exec VP/Global Partnerships Keith Wachtel said that he will be "announcing some new U.S.-only NHL partners prior to the start of the season on Oct. 12." Those sponsors will be "making ad commitments to NBC telecasts." Consoli noted while NBC is "not showing the huge percentage sales volume increase it did at this point last season (close to 30%) it is building off a much higher base." That NBC’s hockey ad volume is higher at all than last season is a "positive since NBC advertisers also poured" more than $1.2B into the net’s Rio Games coverage and also "hundreds of millions into its NFL Sunday Night Football telecast." Winter said just about "all our sponsors are back from last season." He added that since there is no exclusivity in NHL coverage, there are no "categories where marketers can be shut out." Strong ad sales categories "include automotive, QSRs and insurance" (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 9/30).
