SBD/Issue 139/The Back of the Book

King's Rings: Olympic Year Boosts A-B Sports Ad Spend By 27%

Anheuser-Busch (A-B) topped all sports ad spenders again in '08 with more than $277M, up 27.1% during the Olympic year, according to data compiled for SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily by Nielsen Monitor-Plus. The St. Louis-based brewer, which officially became A-B InBev in November '08, dedicated over 80% of its total ad spend to sports programming for the full year of '08. With the exception of '06, A-B has been No. 1 every year since at least '94, when Nielsen began tracking such data. Chevrolet, which had been No. 1 in '06, fell to third in '08, with AT&T Mobile coming in as the second-ranked advertiser, as its sports ad spending increased by 41.5%. Among the top 15 sports advertising spenders, IOC TOP sponsor Visa saw the biggest jump in '08 with an increase of 140.8%, which moved them up 30 spots. Auto companies Ford and Nissan were the only top-15 sports ad spenders to reduce their total from '07. The chart below lists the top 15 sports advertisers from '08 (THE DAILY).

TOP SPORTS ADVERTISERS FOR '08
'08 Rank
'07 Rank
Brand
'08 Sports Ad Spending
1-yr
% +/-
2-yr
% +/-
% of Total Ad Spend on Sports
1
1
Anheuser-Busch^
$277,409,224
27.1%
9.9%
80.8%
2
3
AT&T Mobile^
$243,316,201
41.5%
161.2%
26.4%
3
2
Chevrolet
$178,252,600
2.9%
-34.2%
51.5%
4
6
Sprint Nextel
$152,616,107
11.0%
7.2%
27.6%
5
5
Verizon
$147,938,230
6.3%
17.1%
18.6%
6
7
Toyota
$142,516,793
5.7%
20.5%
41.4%
7
4
Ford
$136,288,521
-2.3%
-4.4%
35.5%
8
10
DirecTV
$130,381,457
52.7%
155.0%
52.7%
9
14
McDonald’s^*
$120,350,982
62.4%
1.8%
29.6%
10
40
Visa*
$108,446,395
140.8%
-20.0%
44.8%
11
15
Coca-Cola^*
$107,914,359
47.8%
-2.8%
65.6%
12
12
Southwest Airlines
$103,245,563
26.6%
14.0%
87.2%
13
8
Nissan
$98,310,004
-1.4%
-18.0%
35.4%
14
41
Geico
$90,723,650
102.5%
169.0%
25.7%
15
13
Dodge
$87,451,772
12.1%
-7.0%
53.7%

NOTES: Spending information is based on standard rate card prices for specific national and regional broadcasts, multiplied by the length of time a particular ad aired. Statistical anomalies are due to rounding. ^= USOC partner during Beijing Olympics. * = IOC TOP sponsor during Beijing Olympics.

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