Big sponsors also hoping to win gold in Turin

This winter's Olympic Games are not only for spectator's delight, but also for the financial benefit of corresponding sponsors. Aside from the NFL, the Olympics are the most watched sporting event on American TV. Top sponsors for the Olympics include Visa, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Panasonic, Samsung. Companies like those choose the Olympics to sponsor for the obvious reason that so many Americans will be watching the games. They realize that since it is the second most watched sporting event, they will get much return on their products and have their product be widely broadcast. Since it is such a low per-unit cost of marketing to the audience, it is sensible for the sponsors to use this as an outlet to capitalize on this advertising strategy. The commericials and other means of advertising these companies use during the Olympics might be bigger than usual, and more expensive, but the oppurtunity cost of the income they will recieve on their products after the ads go out exceeds what they spend on making the ads. So just like the Super Bowl and the infamous commercials that go out every year, the Olympics are a sure way of getting a message across to a nation-wide audience.