With the professional basketball season now in full swing, and ratings well up, NBA arenas are an increasingly effective venue for reaching a fairly affluent audience of males, especially hard-to-reach young males.
An increasingly common form of advertising at NBA games is digital signage, which comes in the form of LED ribbons that wrap around the arena between the upper and lower seating levels, LED signs above and below the scoreboard that hangs over the court, and digital courtside signage mounted in front of the scorer’s table.
Digital signage offers key advantages over the old static signage, beyond their brighter, crisper images. One is the ability of marketers to change messages in a flash, and they can also coordinate messages across a number of individual boards.
And, of course, as with all forms of on-court signage, marketers are also reaching the far larger audience of at-home fans whenever the TV cameras pan the court.
To find out how to get your client’s message in NBA arenas, read on.
This is one in a Media Life series on buying out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.
Fast Facts
What
Digital advertising at NBA arenas.
Who
There are 30 NBA arenas around the country, and digital signage is available in many but not all of them. At some ad sales are handled directly by the team. At others, the arena owner handles ad sales directly.
How it works
Courtside digital screens measure about 3 feet tall and run the length of the scorer’s table, which is located at center court along one side between the team benches. It's where the official scorers, the arena announcer and members of the press sit. The screens come in 8-foot panels and are linked together to run the length of the table. There might be three or more screens.
Courtside digital signage is one of the newest forms of advertising at NBA arenas, and at this point fewer than half the arenas in the league have them.
Those that don't offer advertisers the option of having their messages appear as static ads on similar-size boards. The ads are printed on vinyl and scrolled throughout the game.
One form of digital that's available in just about every NBA arena is LED ribbons that wrap around the entire interior of the arena on the fascia between the lower and upper seating levels. The ribbons, which are between 2 and 3 feet tall, can double as scoreboards.
Typically there is one advertiser at a time on the ribbon, rotating with other advertisers.
An advantage of advertising in NBA arenas is that the ads run throughout the entire game, including actual play. In the NFL, stadium ribbons are permitted to run ads only during breaks in the play. They rest of the time they are used to post updates on the game, such as scores.
Most NBA arenas also have LED signage mounted on the scoreboard that hangs above the court. The screens are on each of the four sides, so the advertiser's message can be seen from anywhere within the arena, as well as by fans at home when the TV cameras pan the scoreboard. Signage is above and below the panel showing the scores.
Advertisers that use each of these three options are rotated throughout the game. Marketers can place ads on any one of the three types of signs, but a lot of advertisers opt to take over all the digital signage in the arena for greater impact.
Markets
NBA markets are Chicago, Cleveland, Portland, Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Boston, Toronto, Oakland, Oklahoma City, Denver, Washington, D.C., San Antonio, Detroit, Orlando, Atlanta, Phoenix, Miami, Houston, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Milwaukee, Sacramento, Philadelphia and Memphis.
Numbers
So far this season the Chicago Bulls lead the NBA with 21,111 fans per game, according to the NBA. The Memphis Grizzlies are No. 30 in the league with 11,387 fans per game.
How it is measured
LED ribbon impressions are calculated by game attendance, while TV ratings are also factored in for courtside signage.
What product categories do well
Frequent advertisers include auto, beer, insurance, soft drinks, retail, wireless and financial.
Demographics
Avid NBA fans are 64 percent male, according to Scarborough Research. Some 18 percent have annual household incomes between $50,000 and $75,000, about 13 percent fall between $75,000 and $100,000, 10 percent between $100,000 and $150,000, and 7.2 percent at $150,000 or more.
In terms of age, the breakdown is as follows: 18.0 percent 18-24; 18.7 percent 25-34; 19.4 percent 35-44; 17.4 percent 45-54; 11.4 percent 55-64; and 15.0 percent 65-plus.
Making the buy
Digital ads in NBA arenas are often part of larger arena campaigns, but the low range for a season-long digital campaign is about $75,000. Most digital signage is sold only on a season-long basis rather by the game. That rules out advertisers jumping in for high-profile games.
Who’s already in NBA arenas
Recent or current advertisers include Target, Corona, Best Buy, Verizon, Pepsi, Federated Insurance, US Bank, Degree deodorant, AT&T and Budweiser.
What they’re saying
“Digital provides the opportunity to be very creative. You can switch out messaging really as often as advertisers want, whereas with traditional static ads it costs to change, and that can get expensive. What we’re also seeing a lot of is companies or brands trying to take out the messaging throughout the facility all at once--the LED ribbons, LED on the scoreboard and digital courtside—so they all sync up at the same time.”–
Ethan Casson, senior vice president of corporate sales and services for the Minnesota Timberwolves
Web site info
National Basketball Association
http://www.nba.com
Boston Celtics
http://www.nba.com/celtics/contact/front-office.html
Los Angeles Lakers
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/partner_info.html
New York Knicks (Madison Square Garden)
http://www.thegarden.com/corporate/index.html
Chicago Bulls
http://www.nba.com/bulls/media/cpb_0910.pdf
Miami Heat
http://www.nba.com/heat/multimedia/corporate_partnerships_index.html
Milwaukee Bucks
http://www.nba.com/bucks/corp_sales_signage_led.html
Minnesota Timberwolves
http://timberwolves.scoutmvp.com
Dorna
http://www.dorna.com
