Dozens Of New Advertisers Join NFL Draft Telecast On ESPN, ABC

The NFL continues to draw advertisers to its big events, even during the off-season, with close to 100 brands and 13 new product categories buying into this year’s sold-out, three-day NFL Draft telecast on ESPN, ABC and NFL Network on April 28-30.

This year’s advertiser total has 30 new advertisers compared to last year’s draft telecast, and ESPN and ABC have sold advertising in 45 categories this year, up from 32 last year. Among the new categories with advertisers participating are crypto/currency, auto aftermarket and employment recruitment. The telecast is also simulcast on NFL Network.

Last year, advertisers spent a total of $112 million on the three days of telecasts, according to iSpot.tv, and this year that number should be significantly greater.

Jim Minnich, SVP, revenue & yield manager, Disney Advertising, says the growth of advertiser interest in the NFL draft telecasts, “speaks to the power of sports, as more and more advertisers are trying to get involved in live TV experiences. Live sports events draw viewers.”

Minnich says this year’s annual draft telecasts have been sold out for close to a month but selling began back in last year’s upfront when he says about 75% of the available ad inventory was sold.

More Female Viewership

Adding to the increased number of advertisers has been interest among non-traditional NFL spenders that are looking to reach the growing number of women watching NFL games and surrounding programming.

“The NFL in general is experiencing a very healthy female audience growth,” Minnich says, adding that what has also drawn interest among some new advertisers in the draft telecasts is the proximity to Mother’s Day, as well as to those looking to do new product launches in the spring.

“We have seen advertisers coming into the draft telecasts who are marketing female products,” he adds.

With linear TV viewership dwindling steadily, the NFL live games and the draft coverage continue to draw what can be defined as significant mass audiences for marketers.

Last year’s opening Thursday night of the draft, which was simulcast on the three networks, drew 12.57 million viewers, while the three-day average of 6.1 million was the third most in history of the event. This year’s viewership is certain to bypass that.

Minnich says the large number of NFL players changing teams in the off-season either by trades or free agency has motivated more interest by advertisers to make scatter buys in the telecasts and will likely result in a greater number of more interested viewers tuning in.

New And Returning Sponsors

Courtyard by Marriott will be the presenting sponsor of the NFL Draft on ESPN; Chevrolet will be presenting sponsor of ESPN’s pre-Draft Digital Live show on April 25-26; Zip Recruiter will be the presenting sponsor of NFL Draft Countdown; and EGO, the outdoor power equipment company, joins the draft coverage for the first time as presenting sponsor of NFL Live. The Home Depot is also a presenting sponsor.

Two additional new sponsors of segments within the draft coverage will be Diehard Batteries and Toyota. Diehard will sponsor the Advance Cam camera shots of players prior to or as they are being selected, while Toyota will be sponsor of Draft Fact segments across all three days.

Additional sponsors include Goodyear, Indeed, Nationwide, Pizza Hut, Subway and USAA.

Other than the sponsorships, Minnich would not name the commercial advertisers or discuss ad pricing for commercial units. But buyers say pricing per unit could range between $200,000 and $250,000 per 30-second spot for the Thursday night first round telecast and less for Friday night and Saturday afternoon later rounds.

The largest ad spender in last year’s NFL Draft telecasts on the three networks was Progressive, which spent $6 million, according to iSpot.tv data. Progressive is also the largest NFL regular season ad spender.

Other Top 10 ad spenders in last year’s draft telecasts, according to iSpot.tv data were: IBM Cloud ($5.4 million), GEICO ($4.7 million), Verizon ($4.1 million), T-Mobile ($3.7 million), Rocket Mortgage ($3.1 million), Cisco ($2.7 million), Taco Bell ($2.3 million), Subway ($2.2 million), and Corona Extra ($2.2 million).

Verizon, GEICO and T-Mobile are also top 10 regular season NFL spenders.

Strong Sports Sales Across the Board

The successful selling out of the NFL Draft telecasts are in keeping with a strong sports ad selling season across the board for ESPN and ABC.

The NBA playoffs are pretty much sold out, with ESPN and Turner sharing the early games and ABC televising the finals. ABC and ESPN are televising the NHL regular season and playoffs for the first time this season and sales have been strong. And ESPN MLB is also well sold, as is the Home Run Derby telecast in July.

And ratings have also been strong for all sports.

“Our sales across the entire portfolio of sports programming have been strong because ratings are up and there are no makegoods that we have to pay out, so it allows us to sell the inventory we were holding back,” Minnich says. “The thirst for advertisers to be involved in tentpole events is strong, and the NFL Draft is one of those events.”