This Is the Streaming Era for NFL Football
Pre-season NFL football is full fury this week, and with it new, multibillion-dollar TV deals take place that will impact the NFL TV landscape for the foreseeable future and beyond.
AdAge said that the TV deal will provide “new opportunities for audience targeting, e-commerce and consumer interactivity.” Amazon has become a big player securing the rights to Thursday Night Football. The ratings may be lower, but most agree the e-commerce tie-ins are the future of the football franchise.
While most will still be able to watch NFL on regular TV outlets, this new deal opens up the door to all streaming services. Sunday Night Football will air on both NBC and the streaming service Peacock. The streaming option allows for more pre- and post-game content and a more immersive experience for fans of all ages. CBS will be streaming games on Paramount+.
This points out that streaming services, just like broadcast networks and local TV channels, need content to survive and attract audiences. The difference now is that direct-to-consumer opportunities have never been so available. For brands, the NFL has never had so many prospects for marketing or the low-cost access through streaming advertising. How inventory will be made available to advertisers is still being worked out and negotiated. Media buys will need to include more than ratings and shares to determine audience reach and effectiveness.
All the combined TV deals with expanded coverage for streaming services will run through the 2033 season. By then, most of the networks will have learned how this new streaming game will need to be played. However, one sure bet in this NFL season is that the TV world has been disrupted.
Mark Mathis III is chief creative & strategy officer, partner and cofounder of AMPERAGE Marketing & Fundraising.
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.
