Tryptophan and TV Timeouts: The NFL is Thanksgiving’s Biggest Fan
For most Americans Thanksgiving is marked by pumpkin pie, drunken uncles, turkey trots, awkward run ins with high school exes, and yes, lots of football.
Thanksgiving Day football is a tradition as cherished as any, especially by the companies shelling out millions to run ads over the action packed 4-day holiday weekend slate of games. While holidays have always been a popular time for TV ads, this year continues to show the exponential growth in value of these coveted slots. Ads during Thanksgiving Day NFL games in 2024 have the highest 30-second unit rate ever at $1.45 million, up almost 20% from last year. NFL weekend game spots are charging $576,000 per 30-second unit, up 11% YoY, while college football 30-second spots are coming in at $133,000, up 12% YoY.
This year there are 3 huge matchups set for Thanksgiving Thursday. The Lions and Cowboys have historically hosted on the holiday, while a 3rd prime time game was added in 2006 which this year features the Dolphins and Packers. There is also set to be one college game as Memphis takes on ranked Tulane. This concept of playing football on the holiday originated back in 1876 when Yale and Princeton (go tigers!) began the annual tradition. In some places, even high-school teams partake in the festivities wrapping up their regular seasons on the holiday. Thanksgiving is now almost synonymous with football for most Americans.
With full bellies, snoozes sponsored by tryptophan, and bottomless wine, Thanksgiving is the perfect storm for advertisers. The national TV ad spend for 2024 is expected to hit over $624 million through the 4-day weekend, with sports programming accounting for at least 84% of all broadcast dollars. Last year’s NFL Thanksgiving Day games boasted a total of 133 million viewers across the three games that were played, combined more than the historical viewership of the Superbowl. There are also a number of college games aired throughout the weekend for both football and basketball, which bring in millions of viewers and continuously break records year after year.
To me, it still seems like a lot for companies to pay over a million dollars for 30 seconds on air, but there is rhyme to this reason. Retail ads during Black Friday NFL games on Amazon Prime are 35% more likely to drive engagement compared to category primetime averages. Retail ads during college football games have 13% more engagement than the season average. No wonder these ad slots are so coveted amongst the industry giants. Brands like Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods aim to capitalize on the high engagement rates through large ad campaigns to significantly boost their revenues during the holiday weekend.
Given the growing and sustained popularity of sports programming brands are choosing to allocate their marketing budgets where they can see the most engagement via ads during games and sponsorship opportunities with teams and leagues. The intersection of sports events and holiday shopping creates unique opportunities for brands to leverage sports sponsorships to enhance visibility and drive consumer engagement. Holiday sales are projected to grow between 3% to 3.5% in 2024, indicating a robust consumer spending environment. In 2023 the College Football Playoff (CFP) attracted on average 23.6 million viewers per game.
Outside of holiday seasons, ad spend for some of football’s biggest events like the Superbowl or CFB Playoff has seen massive growth in recent years as well. From 1967 to 2024 the 30-second ad cost increased by almost $7 million. The 2024 Superbowl is expected to rake in around $650 million given record viewership of 115.1 million in 2023. The CFP alone makes up a large chunk of the multi-billion-dollar ad revenue ESPN collects throughout the college football season.
General sports programming beyond just football and holidays is also seeing a spike in interest from many companies. With the World Cup coming up and the increase in popularity of women’s sports, brands are seeing opportunities to reach even broader, more diverse audiences through campaigns affiliated with sports. We have also seen an increase in consumers prioritizing experiences over traditional gifts, which aligns well with sports events and sponsorships. All in all, sports offer a unique opportunity for brands to reach audiences and drive consumer spending given the high level of engagement and fandom that sports bring.