Please translate this statement for ordinary humans living on planet Earth.
It means that if the ads don’t get enough viewers the advertisers are due free ad time until the numbers are reached.
NBC charges $X for a typical 30-second ad spot in 2021. Let's say the network's average viewership for a prime-time TV program is 1 million households.
NBC charges 10 times $X for a 30-second ad spot for the 2021 Olympics, based on the expectation that this programming will generate 10 million viewers instead of the normal 1 million.
If NBC only gets 2 million viewers instead of the projected 10 million, then the advertisers demand to get a refund of 80% of the ad fees they paid to NBC. Instead of shelling out cash refunds, NBC agrees to give them 8 free ad spots later in 2021 for each one they purchased during the Olympics -- to make up for the 8 million "missing" Olympic viewers.
Think of it as a Mulligan in golf …sort of.
The statement comes from the posted article. I believe it means that advertisers are demanding compensation for their loss of revenue because the ratings have not met contracted for levels.
I've no idea what that means but if it hurts NBC I'm all for it.
Let’s say you pay a million dollars for a spot that runs during an event usually watched by 120 million people. Only 60 million or fewer watch the event. The network in question will run that same spot in other programming until it makes up the 60+ million viewers that you paid to see your spot. You can say well you gamble on it and lose but that’s a bad way for nets to do business if they want to keep advertisers.