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In Series signage,
Phillies hit a homer

Yes, they lost to the Yankees in the big playoff

By Toni Fitzgerald
Nov 11, 2009

The New York Yankees won the World Series, but the Philadelphia Phillies earned a victory over their American League rivals when it came to brand exposure.

Phillies.com, the team's web site, received the most free exposure during Fox's coverage of the series, worth an estimated $30.5 million, according to a new report.

The web site had by far the most views on TV of any sponsor during the six-game series, according to Image Impact, a company that measures sponsorships. It detected 2,434 instances of Phillies.com appearing on screen during the three telecasts from Philadelphia.

The company then rated the value of those views based on their duration, size and other factors, and came up with a monetary value proportionate to the cost of a 30-second commercial during the Series, reportedly in the range of $400,000.

The key to scoring big numbers seems to be location. Phillies.com got prime placement on the backstop wall, which was visible every time a player came up to bat.

The No. 2 brand, General Motors/Chevrolet, received $27.17 million of exposure. It marked the fifth straight year that Chevy had the most exposure of any Major League Baseball partner, and its total was up slightly from last year, when it earned $25.7 million.

Third came the World Series on Fox, with $19.95 million, and fourth was MLB Network with $18.79 million.

Well behind, in seventh place, were Yankees.com, at $12.51 million, and Yankeesbeisbol.com in 10th at $8.4 million.

The top sponsors got a bit of a bigger bang from their on-screen presence than those in July's MLB All-Star game. Back then, Front Row Analytics, a naming rights and sponsorship analysis company, estimated that Anheuser Busch got the most free advertising in the game, mostly from images of Busch Stadium, the host of the event.  

Busch generated $4.4 million in free ads, slightly lower than the average $5.08 million per game generated by Phillies.com.

That sort of bonus advertising seems more important than ever in the current advertising environment, with companies looking to make the biggest impact by spending the least amount of dollars. Sports marketing is, in that way, a lot more attractive because it draws a mass audience, a rarity in these days of fractured viewing.

The World Series averaged 19.4 million total viewers and an 11.7 Nielsen household rating, second only to CBS's "NCIS" this season on broadcast.

Toni Fitzgerald is a staff writer for Media Life.	© 2010 Media Life Magazine

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