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NFL Network has an “impressive bevy of big-name advertisers in the fold” for its
eight regular-season NFL games, including Vonage, which will sponsor a three-hour
pregame show, and Wendy’s, which will sponsor the halftime show, according to
John Consoli of MEDIAWEEK. NFL Network is selling in-game spots “as part of packages
that also included other assorted programming.” NFL Network Senior VP/Media &
Advertising Sales Ron Furman: “The game units were the springboard, but they were
used to get advertisers to make much deeper commitments into the network.” A media
buyer said NFL Network is “in a fraction of the cable homes that the other networks
carrying the NFL games are in, but they recognize that, and they are being reasonable
with what they are charging.” Consoli notes one point of differentiation is NFL
Network “offering its advertisers two-minute commercials, which are particularly
attractive to movie studios for their trailers.” NFL Network COO Kim Williams
added that the network will “offer more content via wireless downloads, on Yahoo
and on cable operators’ video-on-demand channels,” which were also sold as part
of the in-game packages. Current sponsors for game telecasts include Best Buy,
Sprint, Verizon, Coors, Miller, Burger King, Taco Bell, Microsoft, IBM, Radio
Shack, FedEx, Pepsi, State Farm, Motorola, Kay’s Jewelers and the U.S. Army, as
well as Sony Pictures, Universal, New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. (
MEDIAWEEK,
10/30 issue). NFL Network said that ad sales across all of its programming
“are three times higher this year than last, and that inventory within the games
is starting to become scarce.” In this week’s SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, John Ourand
writes, “While many of the NFL’s corporate sponsors have bought into the network,
several spots have been sold to companies” that are not, such as Nike and Anheuser-Busch
(
SBJ,
10/30 issue).
PROMOTING THE NETWORK: NFL Network unveiled its “Thursday Night Football”
and “Saturday Night Football” logos. The logos were designed by the NFL Network
graphics department (
NFL Network). NFL Network will unveil this month the
next round of spots to tout its Thursday-Saturday night schedule. The ads, produced
in-house along with Triple Double, L.A., feature players, coaches, owners and
fans from teams in the eight games “watching NFL Network to get tips and insights”
(
BRANDWEEK, 10/30 issue).
