The Magic Behind NBC Sport's Marketing

How NBC Sports Reduced Email Production Time by 80% During the Winter Olympics

What their team achieved:

hours saved in production time

80%

reduction in manual work

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Challenge

The Olympics don't wait for marketers.

Schedules shift. Medal standings change by the minute. Storylines explode overnight. And during one of the biggest live events in the world, NBC Sport's needed its email program to keep pace without overwhelming the CRM team behind it.

Traditional workflows were not built for that kind of speed. Constant manual updates, multiple creative versions, and last-minute swaps would have created unnecessary production lift during an already high-pressure time.

Their team needed a way to deliver in-the-moment relevance to viewers while keeping operations efficient behind the scenes.

Solution

NBC Sport's partnered with Movable Ink to turn Olympic emails into live, continuously updating experiences.

Using dynamic content modules powered by real-time data, NBC Sports delivered emails that adapted at the moment of open, keeping schedules, medal standings, and breaking news fresh without requiring constant rebuilds or manual creative updates.

Across the Olympics, NBC Sports used Movable Ink to power:

Live Olympic schedules by sport
Real-time medal counts
Dynamic editorial content pulled directly from NBCSports.com

The result was a more agile email program that could respond instantly as the Games unfolded.

“During a fast-moving event like the Olympics, Movable Ink’s dynamic modules significantly improved both audience engagement and CRM team efficiency.”

Helen Soto

Senior Manager, Email Marketing, NBC Sports

Real-Time Schedules That Kept Fans in the Action

When events are happening across time zones all day long, relevance has a short shelf life.

To keep pace with constant programming changes during the Olympics, NBC Sports used a dynamic schedule module that displayed live and upcoming events by sport, updating automatically at open so subscribers always saw the latest programming information. Each listing linked directly to where viewers could watch or engage.

As Helen shared, "The schedule module increased relevance by showing subscribers live and upcoming events at the moment of open, ensuring content stayed timely despite constant programming shifts."

The impact extended beyond the viewer experience. By reducing manual updates, minimizing versioning, and automating schedule changes, the team was able to scale communications more efficiently during one of its busiest periods.

In Helen's words, "It also boosted team productivity by reducing manual updates, minimizing versioning, and allowing us to scale communications more efficiently during peak periods."

A Medal Count Module Fans Kept Coming Back To

Olympic audiences are constantly checking standings. NBC Sports brought that same real-time energy directly into the inbox.

Using Movable Ink, NBC Sports created a live medal tracker that automatically updated the top-performing countries alongside Team USA as results came in.

The experience stayed fresh throughout the Games without requiring repeated manual refreshes from the team.

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Delivering Breaking Stories in Real Time

The Olympics are powered by moments. NBC Sports wanted email subscribers to stay connected to the latest headlines and storylines as they developed.

Using Movable Ink, NBC Sports integrated a dynamic news rail pulling directly from an NBC Sports API, automatically surfacing the newest Olympic coverage from their website inside email.

This eliminated the need for manual article swaps or rebuilding templates every time a new story emerged. Instead, the module continuously updated with the latest Olympic coverage based on what viewers were most interested in at that moment.

🎬 Behind the Scenes: Reducing Production Pressure

The viewer experience mattered. But so did the operational one.

During the Olympics, NBC Sport’s CRM team was managing one of its highest-volume and fastest-moving content periods of the year. Movable Ink helped reduce the executional burden behind the scenes so teams could focus on strategy instead of repetitive production tasks.

This directionally saved approximately 30 hours of production time over the course of the Olympics, representing about an 80% reduction in manual production work.

“Overall, Movable Ink helped streamline our workflow during one of our most demanding content windows, improving both speed and operational efficiency while supporting a more nimble, responsive email program.”

Helen Soto

Senior Manager, Email Marketing, NBC Sports

What Marketers Can Take Away

Live moments require live content

If your programming changes by the hour, static messaging will fall behind fast.

Dynamic content reduces operational drag

Real-time updates reduced the need to create multiple email versions, manually swap in new content, or slow down production every time schedules or results changed.

Relevance drives repeat engagement

Fresh schedules, live standings, and breaking news gave subscribers reasons to keep coming back.

Speed matters internally too

The best customer experiences happen when teams can spend less time updating assets and more time responding strategically to the moment.

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Let’s talk about what Movable Ink can do for you.

Activate your data into personalized content in any customer engagement. Get a demo to see why the world’s most innovative brands rely on Movable Ink to drive customer engagement and accelerate their marketing performance.

Activate your data into personalised content in any customer engagement. Get a demo to see why the world’s most innovative brands rely on Movable Ink to drive customer engagement and accelerate their marketing performance.

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