If you see a big group of people gathered around a TV during this half of the year, you probably don’t need to clock the jerseys to safely guess they’re watching football.
Sports games are among the last standing programs through which advertisers can reach live TV audiences, and “few plays in advertising are as reliable as a well-placed spot in an NFL game,” according to TV measurement company EDO.
Last NFL season, restaurant, auto, and finance brands stood out, and companies in other categories also found ways to effectively reach football fans, EDO found. In a recent report, the measurement company outlined some takeaways from the 2024 season that the NFL’s many advertisers might consider for game days this season.
Turn up the heat: Solo Stove was the most effective advertiser in the NFL last season, according to EDO, which defines ad effectiveness as how likely a spot is to motivate people to engage with a brand online. EDO tracks engagements including brand searches and site visits in the minutes after ads air.
- Solo Stove had an ad effectiveness of 1,403%, per EDO’s report, which means its ads “were 1,403% more likely to generate online engagement than the league average.”
- Mint Mobile followed with 792% effectiveness.
- Coldwell Banker, Polestar, JCPenney, Taco Bell, Arby’s, GMC, and IHOP were all also well over the average effectiveness.
- Liberty Mutual, Skyrizi, and Visa were among the brands that saw low engagement for high investments.
- Nike, Jersey Mike’s, and Instacart also saw low engagement, but with low investments.
During the 2024 regular season, restaurant ads in general were 69% more effective than the average TV ad for that category. Ads for luxury auto brands were 42% more effective than the TV benchmark for that category, and banking and finance ads beat their TV benchmark by 27%.
Networking: On TV, the average NFL ad that ran during the last regular season resulted in the same impact for the advertiser as 23 ads on another broadcast or cable program, according to the report. The NFL saw 550 total advertisers during that time for a total estimated spend of $3.9 billion.
- Regular-season advertisers saw an estimated 186 billion impressions last season, and on average, their ads were 19% more effective than the prime-time average.
- During the playoffs, advertisers spent an estimated $676 million for about 44 billion impressions and ad effectiveness 63% higher than the prime-time average.
- Super Bowl ad spend totaled around $646 million, per EDO, with 10.4 billion impressions and 243% ad effectiveness.
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Stream on: The NFL isn’t just on linear TV anymore, with streamers including Prime Video, Peacock, and Netflix all getting in on the league’s media rights. Streaming NFL ads, EOD found, tend to be even more effective than their traditional broadcast and cable counterparts.
Ads that ran during games that appeared exclusively on streaming services—including the Black Friday game on Prime Video and the Christmas Day games on Netflix—were 66% more effective than the broadcast and cable average, according to the report.
Chief(s) among us: Featuring current or former football stars in NFL ads can lead to improved results for marketers, EDO found. Regular-season ads featuring players were 13% more effective than ads without them, per the report. Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams proved particularly effective for Taco Bell; his ads for the brand were 124% more effective than the average NFL ad last season.
The Kansas City Chiefs also led to boons for brands:
- Ads featuring tight end Travis Kelce for brands including Lowe’s, Pepsi, and Subway were 37% more effective than the regular-season average.
- Ads with quarterback Patrick Mahomes for brands including Adidas, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and State Farm were 21% more effective.
- Even head coach Andy Reid got in on the action, with ads he starred in for brands including Snickers and State Farm proving 63% more effective.
The latest: So far this season, EDO has continued to find NFL ads across networks have been more effective than the average ad that airs during prime time. Week 1 ads were 56% more effective than the prime-time average, according to EDO. They were also 26% more effective than the average for the 2024 regular season.
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