Olympic rights-holder NBC has predicted record advertising sales at Tokyo 2020 ©NBC

America's National Broadcasting Company (NBC) expects to hit a record for advertising sales during next year's Olympic Games in Tokyo, with figures exceeding the $1.2 billion (£1 billion/€1.1 billion) worth of commercials it sold for Rio 2016. 

Dan Lovinger, Executive President for advertising sales at NBC Sports, revealed the company was "significantly ahead" of its position at a similar point before Rio 2016.

Rio 2016 generated a record level of ad sales for an Olympics, by a figure of 20 per cent.

The $1.2 billion figure in Rio equated to $250 million (£200 million/€224 million) in profit.

Lovinger did not disclose a precise goal for Tokyo, but claimed "we expect to surpass that goal, and as you can imagine, our goal for Tokyo is higher than it was for Rio".

NBC won four
NBC won four "Golden Rings" awards for their Olympic broadcasting of Pyeongchang 2018 at last month’s ceremony hosted in Lausanne by the International Olympic Committee ©Getty Images

The Tokyo time zone is considered more favourable for NBC, as morning events will air live in United States prime time.

Lovinger revealed that the strongest interest was being registered in fields such as cars, travel, beverage, technology and financial services.

He added that NBC was getting interest from Japanese companies that had not previously advertised in the United States.

NBC, which is owned by Comcast Corporation, signed a deal with the International Olympic Committee in 2014 for the US rights to the Games up to and including 2032.

The next two summer Olympics after Tokyo are due to be Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028.