What the Winter Games reveal about modern attention — and why it matters for global brands

For global advertisers, the Winter Olympics underscores a global marketing trend: Live sports enable massive reach in one place, but actual influence happens across many screens.

New research from The Trade Desk and Appinio conducted in several countries shows that not only do consumers plan to tune in live, many plan to follow the events throughout the day.

Nearly two-thirds of Canadians and Australians said they consume highlights between events. While in the U.S., 61% watch highlights, 51% follow sports news and 35% rewatch clips, even as the event unfolds.

In South Korea, 85% of viewers said they plan to watch the Games live, and 70% of viewers said they consume digital highlights and news clips during breaks in coverage, outpacing many western countries.

Live sports are one of the last ways for brands to reach millions at once — yet staying connected increasingly depends on how well brands can reach those same viewers as they fragment into highlights, clips, news updates and social conversations across several screens.

“While Korean audiences remain highly focused on live sports, they continue to engage with related digital content throughout the event," said Chong-Hwan Bang, General Manager, Korea at The Trade Desk.

“In this environment, an omnichannel strategy is no longer optional. Brands that show up consistently across screens, formats and key moments can capture the attention of Korean audiences.”

Why it matters

We’re still a few days away from athletes attempting to outdo each other in search of gold hardware on the white slopes of glitzy Cortina in Italy, but brands from Visa to Airbnb to Samsung are already outdoing one another with their ad campaigns.

That ad inventory for Milano-Cortina sold out in early January due to “unprecedented demand,” according to U.S. rights holder NBCUniversal, shows the value of live events as the last remaining aggregators of audiences.

More than half of Americans and Canadians in the study said they pay more attention to brands advertising in sports. In South Korea, 46% of viewers said they are more likely to seek information about a brand they see advertised during a sports event, while 57% of Italians said they found sports advertisers to feel more credible.

The survey’s findings dovetail with recent research showing that premium media, especially CTV, is 30% more effective at driving purchase intent than less premium inventory, according to a study from The Trade Desk Intelligence and PA Consulting.

What’s next

The survey data confirms an ongoing shift in audiences’ media consumption habits. For marketers, the challenge is planning for high‑attention, live moments while activating the ensemble of screens surrounding them.

“There’s only a handful of global platforms, and the Olympic Games is certainly one of the most important,” John Shea, CEO of Octagon Sports & Entertainment Network, which works with a range of Olympic sponsors, told Ad Age.

“The importance of three-dimensional experiences for brands is critical,” he added, highlighting that success is increasingly defined by a combination of factors rather than any single metric.

The Current is owned and operated by The Trade Desk Inc. This information is provided solely for background and is not a representation or guarantee of any future performance.