How Important is Sports to TV?
Advertising Age reports that sports account for nearly 40 percent of broadcast TV advertising spending. It’s not surprising because of last season’s 50 most-watched TV shows, 45 were NFL games. More than half did not air in prime time.
It may be surprising to some that advertisers are flocking to the NFL in spite of a “deflating” image problem over the summer. However, the number of ads that feature NFL players and even announcers seems to be expanding, and online fantasy “nongambling” sites are rapidly growing.
The NFL has all a successful program needs:
- Live events that fight against DVRs and other ad-blocking technology
- Star power and star stories
- A changing story line full of surprises
- A strong merchandising program
- An event feel each week, with NFL parties at the game and at home
- The water-cooler effect the next day
Will we watch the NFL on our phones? I don’t think so; the large-monitor is all part of the experience. Maybe we will watch if we miss a game, but the NFL is made for the big screen, HD, big-audience experience.
Because of this explosion of popularity, you are seeing more prime time games than ever before: Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, and Thursday Night Football. (Hopefully, the NFL will leave Saturday to college.) It may be time to add some NFL action to your media buy.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
