Sometimes less is more...?

The NFL season has just concluded with the Super Bowl attracting no less than 112.3million eyeballs with some of the globes most recognisable brands launching their new ad campaigns.?In the context of Australian sport, the NFL season is substantial (544 regular season games) when compared with, for example, the AFL in Australia that consists of 396 regular season games.?However, in the realm of US sports, 544 games pales in comparison when it comes to the NBA (2460) and the MLB (4860).?Despite the disparity in games played, the NFL is King in media terms in the USA, with recent broadcast rights extending to TV/Streaming/SVOD/BVOD/NFL Owned coming in at an eye-watering $100B over ten years.?On average, $10B per year compared with the current NBA deal at $300M and Baseball at $1.7B.?At Loop Media we’ve worked on several sport broadcast partnerships with great outcomes for our clients but the idea I want to explore is if the AFL shortened their season, would this provide a better outcome for viewers, fans, players and therefore advertisers???

A ratings/attendance tale here in Australia is the Big Bash.?With the ratings bonanza that was season 1-4 for Network 10, Cricket Australia was quick to expand both the number of teams and the number of fixtures but recent data, even considering COVID, would suggest that you can have too much of a good thing with average attendances dropping as the number of fixtures increased – as a marketer – these are alarming trends.

Source:?www.ausstadiums.com

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What is the case for a shorter season?

? Increased fan/audience engagement.?Less games makes for less “dead rubbers” and means a greater chance that teams are playing meaningful games in late July early August as the regular season comes to an end.?The longer your team is in the race for finals, the longer you’re engaged as a fan.?These engagement metrics are important to prospective sponsors.

? Improved product.?Less games means a lower workload for the players, meaning they can perform to a higher standard across the breadth of the season.?A better product encourages more positive discourse around the game and promotes higher viewership and engagement with the media outlets.

? Increased attendance by creating some scarcity in opportunities to watch your team, it may drive attendances up, creating a better match day experience and unlocking commercial opportunities that come with larger crowds (food & beverage, corporate hospitality, merch, brand activation etc..)

? Improved integration. With less games it makes sense that to keep investment level up, deeper integration would need to happen across the broadcast.?Sport production has seen fabulous innovation over the last 10-15 years and if the codes were willing to loosen the restrictions around what can be done, it frees up our talented producers to find new and interesting ways to bring our sponsorships to life via the broadcast.?

The big question is whether a code and a rights holder are willing to make the leap to less product and risk some dollars coming out of the industry.?Is it commercially viable??Right now, I think the answer is a firm “no” but a time will come when such questions will need to be asked given traditional codes now face competition from a variety of sources like eSports, chess and other content makers across YouTube and Twitch.?The competition for eyeballs is as hot as ever so you need to ensure a compelling product to keep bringing new fans to the game.??A bold strategy and some short-term pain may lead to longer term yield and prosperity for all stakeholders and ultimately sponsors like our clients.??

This is clearly a limited analysis but the broader question we’re posing is if sports can offer an improved and more positive experience for the viewer and match day attendant, would this provide happier and more fruitful partnerships with code sponsors.?If so, this allows sponsors to continue to invest with confidence and yield stronger ROI on those precious marketing dollars.

We’ll be watching on with interest over the coming years.?