NEW YORK—A new study shows that viewing continues to grow for America’s most popular sport, with iSpot reporting that during the first eight weeks of the 2023-24 season, NFL games accounted for nearly 7% of all national linear household TV ad impressions, beating out all other types of content by a significant margin.
The new iSpot report also found that with entertainment work stoppages stalling fall TV schedules, the NFL even managed to grow its TV ad impressions for live national linear games by 12% year-over-year.
The report also ranked the most popular players as spokesman for sponsors, with Travis Kelce beating out Patrick Mahomes. Christian McCaffrey ranked #3, followed by Kevin Miles, Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Dak Prescott, and Justin Herbert.
Other key insights include:
- The NFL is driving thematics for brands, not the other way around, as advertisers avoid taking audiences too far afield from football.
- Top advertisers leaned into the zeitgeist in real-time, putting extra emphasis on Travis Kelce after rumors he was dating Taylor Swift arose.
- Data showing why the NFL's audience reach is still worth the price tag for brands at various stages of the sales funnel.
- Data showing how advertisers who returning to TV (or just getting started) are strategically using NFL games to build brand awareness.
The full report is available here.
