The NFL’s Advertising Dominance: How the League is Shaping Modern Marketing
Daniel Rodriguez
Staff Writer
The National Football League, commonly known as the NFL is one of the largest and most influential sports leagues globally. The NFL has grown into a massive cultural and commercial powerhouse, yielding annual viewership around the hundreds of millions. The Super Bowl has consistently ranked as the most-watched television broadcast in the US and has a worldwide reach. The NFL draws a large amount of attention not only for its games but also for its impact on advertising, the media, and even social and political topics.
A testament to the influence of the NFL, the league has been a leader in sports broadcasting innovation, securing massive TV contracts and breaking in new digital platforms, like Amazon Prime, for streaming of Thursday Night Football games. An article from the Street Fight Magazine talks about their innovation in advertising and goes on to say, “Brands like Bud Light are also looking at connecting online and offline campaigns by adding QR codes to cans, which fans can scan to win NFL merchandise and gift cards.” The audience that the league has makes it a massive target for advertisers looking to engage with one of the most loyal and diverse fanbases in all of sports. Brands are willing to pay large sums of money for commercial spots during games, with the Super Bowl offering the most wanted advertising spots.
An important time for brands seeking to leverage omnichannel advertising is the NFL season. Omnichannel advertising is a well-integrated yet seamless advertisement experience across several channels whether online or offline that ensures the consumer receives the same message from the producer. This feedback could be anywhere that an audience interacts with the brand: on TV, on social media, in mobile apps, etc. A blog post from Digilant goes on to talk about how today’s audiences are omnichannel viewers, stating, “They’ll scroll through social media while watching games, subscribe to players’ podcasts, and browse in-game analysis or post-game highlights on their phones. All these actions provide ample opportunities for brands to create relevant and memorable interactions.” Television commercial breaks, advertising on mobile platforms, and interactive items such as the QR codes were developed to integrate sports and brands and capitalize on the two-for-one deal the beer-and-brotherhood combo. It allows connection to extend from the field to the couch, thus giving brands that facilitate connections with football fans on different platforms the ability to extend reach and engagement.
The NFL does not merely dominate sports by virtue of its on-field fortunes but continues to shape the advertising landscape in agreement with the needs of the day. With an audience as vast and diverse as any, from live broadcasts to digital platforms, the NFL is equipped with the most concrete opportunity to provide brands with an avenue to engage with their consumers via a unique method of omnichannel advertising, thereby constructing contact points with interactive content. Since the brands are engaging in techniques such as split-screen ads or seamless cross-platform integration, their message is getting more reach, and the engagement of the consumer continues through the NFL season. The communities on shared influence, viewership, and advertising innovativeness make the NFL an apex platform for the advertisers globally, allowing producers to interact with fans meaningfully and memorably.
Contact Daniel at rodrig33@shu.edu