Live sports are undeniably the most valuable programming on TV. EDO has frequently reported on how advertising during live sporting events — football games, especially — are core to a successful TV advertising strategy given their broad reach and high engagement.
This trend continued through 2021 with NFL, NBA, and NCAA programming, as seen in EDO’s 2021 TV Advertising Insights Report. Here are the top live sports insights from our analysis.
The NFL dominates (again)
This year’s top live sports programming was dominated by NFL football:
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Super Bowl LV on CBS was the single most engaging program for advertisers, with 345% higher Search Engagement on a per-person, per-second basis versus the average broadcast primetime program in 2021.
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The 2021 NFL Playoffs, which aired across FOX, CBS, NBC, and ESPN/ABC, outperformed the average live sports program by 61%.
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Monday Night Football (ESPN), Sunday Night Football (NBC), and Thursday Night Football (FOX) performed on par with the NFL Playoffs in driving branded search, after controlling for audience size. The programming respectively drove 60%, 60%, and 56% more engagement than the standard live sports program last year.
Are you ready for Super Bowl LVI? Reach out to EDO today to learn more about our media, creative and audience optimization for Convergent TV advertising ahead of the most engaging live sports programming of the year.
College football and basketball
NCAA programming took four of the top 10 live sports programming spots in 2021. Further, EDO found that NCAA football and basketball programming comprised nearly half (eight) of the top 20.
Coming in at no. 2 on our top 10 list is the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game between the Baylor Bears and Gonzaga Bulldogs. The programming performed 138% better than the average live sports show last year.
College basketball performed well last year, with the NCAA Final Four tournament outperforming the average live sports programming by 85%.
Not far behind is NCAA Football with programming in the third and sixth spots. Coming in third, performing 103% better than the average live sports program, is the NCAAF National Semifinals airing on ESPN and ESPN2. The NCAAF National Championship Game also aired on ESPN, outperforming the average program by 82%.
NBA Finals in the top 10
While the NBA Playoffs and Regular Season games didn’t make our top 10 list, the 2021 Finals programming between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns performed well for advertisers.
The finals performed 87% better than the average live sports programming in 2021, ranking higher than the NFL playoffs, the NCAA’s Final Four, and NCAAF Championship programming.
What advertisers need to know about live sports
Live sports are the last major convener of mega-audiences. And as pro sports leagues dip their toes — or dive headfirst — into streaming video, marketers that have depended on live sports will require specific CTV sports strategies.
Buying big audiences is always a big investment. Knowing what drives response — consumer behaviors like search and site visitation – will be key.
Want more insights? Check out our recently published TV Advertising Insights Report to know what worked for advertisers in 2021.