Outreach insurance ads will run during Winter Olympics

The Obama administration will join the likes of Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and McDonald's as a television advertiser in next month's Winter Olympics Feb. 7-23.

Its ads, to be run in local markets rather than nationally, will be aimed at encouraging Americans to sign up for health insurance before the March 31 deadline.

Ads will run in markets with the highest rates of uninsured, focusing on families and young adults, according to an HHS official.

HHS officials declined to provide dollar amounts for the ad buys, but Olympic ad time ranks as some of the most expensive available, along with the Super Bowl and the annual Oscars telecasts. Indeed, NBC, which is televising the games, has garnered a record $800 million for its Olympic advertising, the broadcaster has announced. Buying local ads during the telecasts costs considerably less than buying national spots, but local rates also are higher than normal given the audience reach of the Olympics.

Ad specifics concerning messaging or creative weren't released, but HHS officials did explain that CMS decided to shift some of its paid media budget to the NBC Olympic inventory in anticipation of increased television viewership during the 17-day period. During the last Olympic games, the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, NBC averaged 31.1 million viewers during primetime.

The ads are part of ramped-up education and outreach efforts that HHS spokeswoman Joanne Peters calls a “sustained, aggressive campaign for the duration of open enrollment.”

“HHS is using a mix of grass-roots activities and stakeholder engagement to raise awareness, as well as targeted television, radio and digital advertising with an emphasis on reaching young and health audiences in particular,” Peters said.

Still, the effort is likely to provide fuel to critics of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is sure to surface at a point of contention between pro- and anti-ACA candidates in upcoming Congressional campaigns this year.

Follow Rachel Landen on Twitter: @MHrlanden