The only thing that beats the delicious combo of Thanksgiving leftovers and a weekend full of NFL football? Talking to CNBC about it the Monday after!
This week, our friends at CNBC invited EDO President and CEO Kevin Krim back on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” to recap Thanksgiving weekend football for advertisers. They had a great on-air chat about Amazon's Black Friday game, how it gave advertisers (retailers, especially) a unique opportunity to make their case to consumers, the state of sports streaming, and more.
Check out the video of his appearance below, or scroll down to read some Thanksgiving weekend insights that were too good to leave on the cutting room floor.
Discounts galore. No surprise here — ads featuring discount messaging generated remarkable engagement spikes compared to their usual promotions. Consumers were 73% more likely to engage with retail ads aired during Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday NFL games in 2023 as compared to the retail primetime average, and 45% more likely to engage as compared to overall NFL ad performance this season to date.
Retail, auto, and credit card advertisers win Black Friday. Amazon's Black Friday NFL game attracted more retailers (DICK’s Sporting Goods, Etsy, Old Navy, Kohl's), auto brands (Hyundai, Kia, BMW, Acura), and financial services brands (Visa, American Express, Discover, Capital One) than the typical Amazon Thursday Night Football game this season. Notably (and not surprisingly), Walmart and Target skipped rival Amazon’s TNF on Black Friday but scored big on engagement with NFL games on Thanksgiving Day.
The return of the QR code. Amazon’s Black Friday game also saw strong synergy with the official start of the holiday shopping season. Half of the top ten performing ads during Black Friday football on Amazon in terms of ad impact featured QR codes from Meta, Gillette, BMW, and DICK’s Sporting Goods, indicating this ad format can be a success in the right context.
And we can’t forget about College Football. The most engaging Thanksgiving College Football matchup on Saturday was Ohio State vs. Michigan, with consumers 173% more likely to engage with brands compared to the average college matchup that Saturday. Retail ads performed 13% better during Saturday’s NCAA college football games as compared to the average retail ad aired during the college football season to date.
EDO is your home for Convergent TV outcomes data this NFL season. With our real-time insights in hand, our clients are able to quickly understand their advertising engagement and optimize their game plan in time for the following week’s kickoff.
For more NFL advertising expertise, check out our new weekly sports media show "Who Won the Week," where EDO analyst Matt Ulrich and industry reporter Mike Shields shared even more hot takes on the big Thanksgiving weekend winners.
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