Sunday Still Rules

In a fragmented media environment, football remains the most powerful driver of linear TV audiences. From the NFL to college football, no other content consistently delivers live, engaged, and scalable viewership week after week. For marketers, football isn’t just a media buy, it’s a foundation for brand reach, awareness and sales.

Football dominates linear viewing and accounts for the majority of the highest-rated TV broadcasts each year. For marketers, football provides predictable reach in an otherwise volatile ratings environment. Because football is watched live, ad completion rates are high and viewers are less distracted compared to other programming. It also attracts very broad demographic groups, including hard to reach light TV viewers. Whether purchasing games through Network, Prime, Netflix, Peacock, satellite, nationally or locally, viewers of all ages are tuning in and engaging with multiple screens while watching.

While streaming rights have expanded, linear TV still delivers most total football impressions including big games (Sunday Night Football, playoffs, college rivalries). Streaming largely adds incremental reach rather than replacing linear.

Football also fuels brands full funnel tactics. Search, social, and site traffic lift during and after games and retail can see real-time response tied to game windows. Marketers should plan for cross-channel activation, not isolate football as a standalone buy.

While football can be a costly investment, it pays off! This leaves marketers wanting more inventory and looking for creative ways to capitalize on these investments before the end of the season. Our advice: capitalize on a surround strategy in pre-game, post-game, half-time or commentary sports programming. Lastly, if you’re not advertising in football, work around it. Particularly during certain parts of the season, dayparts and days of the week. You don’t beat the crowd by ignoring it.