We’re now just less than a quarter of the way through the National Football League regular season, and judging by this year’s TV ratings there’s an ever-increasing appetite for pro football in the U.S.
Game attendance in some markets might be down due to the tough economy, but in others it’s clearly thriving; the Dallas Cowboys set an NFL attendance record earlier this year when 105,121 fans attended the first game in the team’s new stadium.
Signage at NFL games is attractive to marketers because it reaches a heavily male, sports-minded audience when they’re in a receptive frame of mind. It's also a captive audience; they're in their seats or somewhere in the stadium for three hours and sometimes longer.
Static signage is present at every NFL stadium, but as is the case in other forms of out-of-home, digital signage is gaining, and it presents whole new opportunities for advertisers to reach those attending the game, along with viewers at home.
To find out how to get your client’s message in front of NFL fans at the game, read on.
This is one in a Media Life series on buying out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.
Fast Facts
What
Advertising to NFL fans at the stadium.
Who
Most NFL franchises own their stadiums and have their own sales teams who handle signage sales.
How it works
Anyone's who's been to an NFL game is familiar with the traditional static signage, and it's hard to miss, appearing in various sizes throughout the stadium's interior, along the walls of the concourses, hanging down from the concourse ceiling, and on the walls of restrooms. There's also airport-like backlit ads available in concourse areas.
Outside, in view of TV cameras, there are large permanent signs near stadium scoreboards, and at some stadiums there's also what's called tri-vision signs, which measure about 24-by-32 feet and rotate three advertisers throughout the game. They are usually found near the big video scoreboards at each end of the field.
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Another common form of exterior advertising is backlit signage that's mounted on the fascia between upper and lower levels of the stadium.
But the emerging form of signage appearing at NFL stadiums is digital. Digital screens are popping up in the concourses of newer NFL stadiums, with the capability of running static, animated or video advertising.
Where digital is having its biggest impact is in the form of LED screens that span the entire length of the fascia between the lower and upper seating tiers.
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During play, the screens, which are about three feet deep, display scoreboard information but also static ads that include a brand’s name, logo and message.
But during non-play time, say half time, the boards can run also sorts of images, static and animated, including flashing and scrolling text. Typically, it's just one advertiser on the LED board at a time, with a message that wraps around the entire stadium.
The board rotates messages from about 15 to 20 different advertisers per game, usually in 10-minute increments of real time, as opposed to game time.
Since the boards are digital, advertisers can update their copy throughout the season, or even game by game.
Markets
NFL markets are New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Boston, San Francisco, Oakland, Dallas, Philadelphia, Houston, Atlanta, Miami, Detroit, Phoenix, Seattle, Minneapolis, Denver, San Diego, Cleveland, St. Louis, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Nashville, Jacksonville, Buffalo, New Orleans and Green Bay.
Numbers
Last season the NFL averaged 68,241 fans per game, down a tick from 68,702 in 2007. Overall 17.5 million fans attended games during the 2008 season, off slightly from 17.6 million in 2007. The Washington Redskins averaged 88,604 fans per game in 2008, leading the league, while the winless Detroit Lions were at the bottom with 54,497 fans per game.
How it is measured
Game attendance is used to estimate impressions for in-stadium signage. Where the message is also seen by viewers at home, game attendance data is combined with viewership numbers for the game factored by the amount of time the ad appeared on camera.
What product categories do well
Frequent NFL advertisers include beverages, telecommunications, fast food, auto, financial, insurance and local media, such as newspapers and TV and radio stations.
Demographics
Among avid NFL fans, 13 percent have an annual household income of $25,000 or less, according to Scarborough Research, with 19 percent between $25,000 and $40,000, 13 percent between $40,000 and $50,000, 20 percent between $50,000 and $75,000, 16 percent between $75,000 and $100,000, 12 percent between $100,000 and $150,000, and 7 percent making $150,000 or more.
Making the buy
Pricing can vary on a number of factors, including the market, type of advertisement and length of campaign. The majority of stadium advertising is by season-long contract, and advertisers can expect pricing to start in the high five figures to low six figures, with LED ads being in the higher end of that range.
But there are opportunities to do deals for one or several games for some stadium signage.
NFL teams are guaranteed to host 10 home games per season, two during the preseason and eight during the regular season.
Who’s already advertising at NFL stadiums
Recent or current NFL advertisers include Mall of America, Caribou Coffee, Verizon, Ford, Bank of America, State Farm and Coca-Cola.
What they’re saying
“During the play of the game we only run static advertising on LED signs, which look like stationary signs. During breaks, such as timeouts, advertisers have an ability to have an animated ad presence and to have essentially a moment of exclusivity, with ads all around the building. So they’re hitting everyone in the building at that moment.” –
Mike Slates, director of corporate sales with the Minnesota Vikings.
Web site info
NFL
http://www.nfl.com
New York Giants
http://www.giants.com
New York Jets
http://www.newyorkjets.com
Chicago Bears
http://www.chicagobears.com
New England Patriots
http://www.patriots.com
Dallas Cowboys
http://www.dallascowboys.com
Philadelphia Eagles
http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com
Minnesota Vikings
http://www.vikings.com
Washington Redskins
http://www.redskins.com
Miami Dolphins
http://www.miamidolphins.com
