NFL Ad Rates Soar as Marketers Clamor for Time in TV's Last Great Reach Vehicle
Posted in: Uncategorized
Part of the enduring appeal of “Sunday Night Football” lies in its unmatched reach in primetime. According to Nielsen live-same-day data, last season’s Sunday night slate averaged a staggering 22.5 million viewers and a 13.0 household rating, which marked a 5% increase from the prior season. Whereas every high-profile scripted series last season suffered significant ratings erosion — TV’s top-rated drama, “The Walking Dead,” saw its C3 numbers drop 15%, while the No. 1 comedy “The Big Bang Theory” fell 14% — “Sunday Night Football’s” growth suggested that the NFL may well be the last remaining TV property that is immune to the ravages of time-shifting/cord-cutting/millennial drift/Netflix-and-chill.
Of course, “Sunday Night Football” is hardly the only game in town. In fact, it’s not even the highest-rated NFL package, if you compare it to the Fox and CBS late-national games that kick off at around 4:20 p.m. ET on alternate Sundays. Last season, Fox’s NFC-heavy slate averaged a whopping 27.4 million viewers and a 15.7 household rating, making it the most-watched, highest-rated show on TV, while CBS’s complementary package was no slouch itself, with an average draw of 25.1 million viewers and a 14.6 household rating. By way of comparison, Game 7 of this summer’s riveting NBA Finals drew a 15.8 household rating on ABC.
Given the huge numbers that Fox and CBS post on autumnal Sunday afternoons, the going rates for commercials in their respective late-game packages are predictably elevated. According to buyers, Fox is charging around $741,811 for each 30-second increment in its eight-game juggernaut, which is replete with appearances by the NFL’s two top-rated teams (Packers, Cowboys) and the Cardinals, who football junkies say have a real shot at representing the NFC in Super Bowl LI. CBS, for its part, is charging around $684,412 a pop for time in a stack of games that includes a clash of AFC antagonists New England and Pittsburgh and a Christmas Eve Cardinals-Seahawks scrum that has “playoff implications” stamped all over it.
Post a Comment