Major brands from top-tier Olympic partners to newcomers are running ad campaigns during the 2026
Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, with NBCUniversal reporting sold-out ad inventory.
Advertisers include
Alibaba, Airbnb, Coca-Cola, P&G and Samsung, among others in fashion apparel such as Ralph Lauren and Lululemon.
Despite major competition with U.S. football fans on Sunday who will
be tuned into Super Bowl LX, Google AI Mode will be present to support those looking for answers during the Winter Olympics as Team USA skis to victory.
During the 2026 Winter Olympics Opening
Ceremony, Google will
debut a new campaign in the U.S. showcasing the physical feats of Team USA athletes and how fans can use AI Mode in Search to explore these moments in depth.
The campaign, created
by
Google, includes :60 and
:30 spots featuring Team USA athletes Chloe Kim, Lindsey Vonn, Ilia Malinin, and Red Gerard, among others, and will run across broadcast, online and social in the U.S.
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It builds on Google's partnership with the team and with NBCUniversal to create a more personal and interactive experience
for fans and Team USA athletes.
According to the campaign, when fans search for information on questions such as how ski jumpers are able to stay in the air so long or how many G-forces a bobsledder feels compared with a fighter
pilot, AI Mode in Search can deliver the answers.
AI Mode also can help people better understand "how" and "why" every record-breaking performance happened.
NBCUniversal’s
commentators will use AI Mode to explain complex details in real-time, such as explaining how judges calculate artistic scores for figure skaters or the science behind why sweeping the ice is critical
in curling.
Google also explained that Team USA athletes will use AI Mode to give fans a look into how they spend their days when they are not competing.
Brands with advertisements
running during the Super Bowl LX have competition this weekend with the Winter Olympics beginning today and continuing through the next couple of weeks in Milano Cortina 2026.
NBCUniversal
expanded its programmatic access to test how live sports advertising could scale ahead of future cultural sporting events like the Winter Olympics or LA28 Olympic Games.
Josh Noval,
senior vice president of Olympic advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, told The Current that there are three drivers fueling growth: timing, audience scale and a programmatic advertising
designed to lower the barrier to entry for brands that historically couldn’t afford, or planned for, an Olympic media buy.
Unlike traditional Olympic buys, which require long lead times
and sizable commitments, programmatic allowed advertisers to seize the moment, because they could buy media against live moments as audiences show-up in real time.
Programmatic provided a
lower barrier to entry for media buys, even for smaller brands.