NFL Advertising Was a Mixed Bag for CPG Food & Beverage Brands in 2023

The 2023 National Football League season was an interesting one for advertisers in the Consumer Packaged Goods: Food & Beverage sector, with some successes and some struggles.

Here, we’ll take a look at how things went for category advertisers, as well as the brands that led the pack during the 2023 NFL season.

Engagement slumps during playoffs

During the 2023 regular season, CPG Food & Beverage advertisers spent an estimated $109 million on 352 spots during NFL programming, with those spots generating 15% less per-person, per-second engagement than the average CPG Food & Beverage ad on broadcast and cable primetime.

The bright side? That figure was up 29% compared with the league’s 2022 regular season. 

The playoffs were less fruitful for these brands, with ads being 21% less effective than the category average on all broadcast and cable primetime airings, down 38% year over year. 

A new set of advertisers topped our list of most engaging food and beverage brands

Eight of the top 10 most effective CPG Food & Beverage brands during the 2023 season did not appear on our 2022 top 10, while the two returnees dropped slightly in the standings. 

Newcomer Hershey’s topped the list, while the two brands that remained from 2022 were M&M’s (No. 6, down two spots year over year) and Red Bull (No. 8, down one spot). 

The other fresh faces were Old El Paso (No. 2), Skittles (No. 3), Hellmann’s (No. 4), Pillsbury (No. 5), Coffee-Mate (No. 7), Snickers (No. 9), and Tostitos (No. 10). 

Old El Paso charts the category’s most effective NFL ads

The five most effective creatives in terms of engagement all came from brands on the top 10 list mentioned above — and all averaged engagement rates above the category’s overall broadcast and cable primetime average. 

1. Leader Old El Paso, at a whopping 209% more effective than the broadcast and cable primetime average, featured Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt as Tacoboy. 
2. Skittles gets caught spying in the second-place creative, which came in at 85% above the category average. 
3. Hellmann’s stuck to the basics, showing off how rich and creamy its mayonnaise is in the spot that came in at No. 3, 35% above the CPG broadcast and cable primetime average. 
4. The red M&M and Santa Claus fainting when they meet each other was the plot line of No. 4 on the list, from M&M’s, at 14% more effective than average. 
5. Finally, the search for a quick and easy family dinner led to a win for Pillsbury and its crescent rolls, with a spot surpassing the CPG broadcast and cable primetime average by 7%. 

Want more NFL advertising insights? Download our NFL TV Outcomes Report

If CPG Food & Beverage brands hope to improve their performance next season, they’ll need to take a close look at how things shook out last year.

Fortunately, EDO’s NFL TV Outcomes Report has everything you need to plan for a successful 2024-25 season, from insights into top brands and creatives to a look at how the league’s ads are performing during holidays, streaming games, and more.

Download it today to kick off the new season on the right foot.