Linear Commercial Guidelines Olympics Milan Cortina 2026

Air dates

Creative deadlines

Friday, February 6-Sunday, February 22

Additional coverage on CNBC February 4-5 and USA Network February 5

January 9, 2026

Final billboard assets delivered to Olympics Marketing Team

January 28, 2026

Traffic instructions for broadcast and cable

All commercials in house and approved for air

Suppliers must deliver commercial content through digital distribution.

FTP, DVD or emailed file formats (e.g., WVM) are not accepted

• NBCUniversal requires only one file of a commercial file be electronically delivered to Englewood Cliffs, NJ, at least 5 working days before the first scheduled airdate.

• For spots bought on a rotating basis (e.g., Monday through Friday), the first day in the rotation is considered the effective airdate.

• Address packages to all networks in which it will air.

• HD commercials must include an “H” appended to the end of the Ad-ID code (e.g., ABCD1234H).

• SD commercial ISCI codes cannot end in the letter “H”.

• Limit to –2 dBFS

• Average of -24 LKFS* (+/-2 dB) of the full program mix (not only dialog) of the soundtrack

• Dialogue intelligibility is extremely important and must established and maintained for the duration of the content

• Use of a low frequency enhancement channel (LFE) is encouraged when considered appropriate by the sound designer

  • Some portion of the LFE signal should be mixed into the left and right channels to maintain the appropriate presence of this signal.

• NBCUniversal authors the audio metadata required for ATSC digital television transmissions

• ITU-R.BS.1770-based broadcast loudness meter for measurement. Minor variation of +/- 2dB about the -24 LKFS loudness average is anticipated and acceptable.  

• Don’t target content loudness to the high and low side of this range.

• All delivered content will be loudness normalized to meet this requirement, if necessary. This process shifts average loudness to -24LKFS with no impact to dynamic range.

  • Content delivered softer than Telemundo’s -24LKFS average loudness specification will be loudness normalized to a maximum specification of -24LKFS -2/peak. 

  • Delivered peak level of soft content may restrict normalization up to the -24LKFS target. 

• A tight tolerance surrounding the -24LKFS average is especially critical at the start and end of content or segments to establish smooth program to commercial transitions.

• Average soundtrack loudness of -24 LKFS, matching the Telemundo’s default dialog level metadata, is critical for proper operation of the dynamic range control system used for ATSC AC-3 audio.

NBCUniversal strongly encourages you to audition your content at the -24LKFS average dialog loudness.

If captioning is provided, record on Field 1, Line 21 on CC1 in compliance with the EIA 608 standard. Except for the use of CCI for closed-captioning, commercials for air may not contain any data embedded into or encoded onto the commercial audio or video without the  prior  written consent of NBCUniversal. Agency and/or Advertiser must notify NBCUniversal, reasonably in advance, of the existence of said content on any commercial. See 79.1 of the Code of Federal Regulations for more.

• NBCUniversal doesn’t support the use of audio or video watermarking or tracking technologies embedded in ancillary data space or otherwise included in the materials for exhibition/transmission.

• NBCUniversal takes no responsibility for the use of such technologies or their preservation in transmission to the audience.

• The FCC prohibits the transmission of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) codes or Attention Signal (853 Hz and 960 Hz transmitted simultaneously) or a recording or simulation thereof except in the case of an actual emergency or authorized EAS test.

• The rule applies to all forms of content, including programs, commercials and other paid programming, PSAs, promos and other interstitial material. The FCC hasn't defined what constitutes a prohibited simulation and has brought enforcement actions against sound effects other than actual EAS tones. Content containing EAS tones or simulations are not be accepted for broadcast. 

• Commercial assets are purge eligible from all systems 90 days from last air date or 90 days after received if it never aired.

• Commercial assets are not returnable.

• If for any reason you need to have a commercial removed or purged out of the NBCUniversal library, please send the notification to the appropriate contact for each network.

• NBCUniversal has one central library for all its TV and cable networks, therefore purging content for one network removes availability for all other NBCUniversal TV and cable networks.

• If a commercial cannot air due to legal reasons and must be pulled off the air immediately, please notify the appropriate network contact by email and by phone.

Cable

Only BLANKET (ROS) traffic is accepted

⚠️ Spot traffic not accepted for Cable

• “Olympics” must be noted on the traffic instructions

• Must send Olympic traffic separately from non-Olympic traffic

• Must be received no later than 3 pm EST three working days prior to air

• Must be clearly marked as “REVISION” and include a revision number

• For any added aggregate units if no specific traffic is received, ROS will be used

• Traffic will not be processed unless commercial tapes are in the Englewood Cliffs facility

• NBCU does not confirm the receipt and/or implementation of original or revised traffic instructions; please do not send confirmation requests

NBC TV broadcast

Only Spot traffic is accepted (instructions must include a valid date, time, and program/show name)

⚠️ Blanket traffic instructions (ROS/Percentage) not accepted for NBC broadcast

• Must be received Monday through Friday, no later than 3pm for next-day air

• Must be clearly marked as “Revision” and include a revision number

All

• CBD products (topical, non-ingestible)

• Controversial issues and political

• Dietary supplements

• Fantasy sports

• Gambling, betting, lotteries, and games of chance

• Homeopathic remedies

• Weight loss supplements and programs

USA

Categories requires for All Cable Networks plus:

• Competitive television and streaming services

• Hard alcohol

• Movies

• Personal products

• Video games rated M

CNBC

Categories required for All Cable Networks plus Competitive television and streaming services

• https://www.nbcustandards.com

• MediaQurator

• https://www.nbcustandards.com

• MediaQurator

• https://www.nbcustandards.com

• MediaQurator

3 business days

3 business days

3 business days

• The deadline for submitting final advertisements to Advertising Standards prior to the 2026 Winter Olympics is January 28th, 2026.

• Advertisers are strongly encouraged to submit pre-clearance materials (scripts, storyboards, and/or rough cuts) as soon as possible. Please include “FOR THE OLYMPICS” in the comments.

• Standards will request substantiation for all claims and authentication of all demonstrations and testimonial statements, as applicable.

• All final advertisements must be slated with a unique AD-ID code, a title, and the length of the advertisement. Standards cannot give final approval to unslated advertisements.

• For guidelines and additional information, please visit www.nbcustandards.com.

January 9, 2026

• Logo (animated or static)

• 5-second VO copy, maximum 8—10 words

• Please provide Billboard Materials for ALL participating brands.

If client requires specific color, include the style guide or keyable color code with the submission.

If a style guide is not included, the default specs are: 

• White background with color logo 

• Black background with white logo 

Submit all billboard assets to olympics.marketing.billboards@nbcuni.com.

Ad format

Static logo

Animated logo

File format

Preferred: Illustrator (EPS or AI) with vector outlines

PSD, TIFF, or TGA also accepted

HD QuickTime (MOV)

Dimensions

Minimum 900 x 600

Logo must be full in the canvas; no excessive white space.

1920 x 1080

Resolution

72 dpi

72dpi

Logo

Place over your preferred background

We will take the full logo, put it in our billboard frame, and then key it over a scenic or wide shot from the event.

N/A

Frame rate

N/A

50fps

50fps is the broadcast standard for Paris 2024. If this can’t be accommodated, please be mindful that 29.97/59.94 content will need to be frame-rate converted).

Video codec

• Without key: Apple ProRes 422 (not HQ)

• With key: Apple ProRes 4444

Length

5 seconds and 10 words or less

Audio track

All animated billboards are to be delivered silent