Exclusive: Taylor Swift and Bud Light Among the 5 Players Powering NFL Ad Blitz

When the NFL has the Kansas City Chiefs, a multicultural fanbase, and stadiums full of Swifties on its team, it’s hard for the league or its advertisers to lose.

Each year, television data and research firm EDO takes a look at the prior NFL season and delves into the football stats advertisers love most: Site visits, web searches, and other data indicating ad effectiveness. In this year’s annual NFL TV Outcomes Report, it was discovered that the NFL produced roughly 36 times more ad engagement than the primetime broadcast and cable average.

Looking at about 12,000 TV ad airings from the NFL regular season to the Super Bowl, EDO broke down sports marketing performance into categories including CPG, auto, restaurants, insurance, and health and beauty. It traced the fortunes of banking and finance brands during NFL games—where Capital One’s John Travolta Santa was 598% more effective than the category average—and explained why Beyoncé’s Verizon spot was 2,976% more engaging than the median Super Bowl celebrity.

“There is no more sure of a bet in TV advertising than the NFL,” said Kevin Krim, President & CEO of EDO.

While there’s a lot for marketers to sift through in EDO’s NFL data, here are just a few highlights to consider going into the league’s upcoming season:

1. Engagement helps the NFL run up the score

Ads that run during the NFL regular season are 8% more effective than the primetime average. By the playoffs, that grows to 52%. At the Super Bowl? 198%, or nearly triple a primetime ad.

NFL broadcasts accounted for five of the year’s 15 most ad-effective broadcasts, with Super Bowl programming and the NFC Championship on Fox, Monday Night Countdown on ESPN, the NFC Championship and the Black Friday game on Amazon Prime Video mingling among the Grammys, baseball’s Home Run Derby, NCAA basketball March Madness, college football playoffs, and the NBA Finals.

Among the brands that benefited most from those airings included Hyundai, Gillette, and the embattled beer brand Bud Light. Speaking of which…

2. The Super Bowl boosts even Bud Light

Bud Light had a rough marketing year in 2023 thanks to criticism from all sides of its handling of a social campaign featuring trans activist Dylan Mulvaney. But by the time the Super Bowl came around, audiences seemed a bit more receptive.

A spot featuring NFL Hall-of-Famers Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith distributing a round of Bud Light to bar patrons proved 238% more likely to generate consumer engagement than the category average. That made it the second most effective alcohol ad of the NFL season, behind only Corona’s perennial palm-tree Christmas ad (404%).

At a time when spirits companies, including NFL sponsor Diageo and its Smirnoff and Captain Morgan spirits brands, are encroaching on beer’s football turf and league-backing E.J. Gallo’s Barefoot wine brand is posting double-digit gains among brewers, Bud Light could use some good news.

“There’s only so much that a single ad can do for a brand that’s got challenges,” Krim said. “They had the right idea of bringing it back to fans of football in a bar, but they still have a lot of challenges at the retail distributor level.”

3. The Taylor Swift Effect was an era

Whether she was in a box in New Jersey with Blake and Ryan enduring a game against the Jets, back in Kansas City swag surfin’ with fans, or on the field after the Super Bowl, Taylor Swift had NFL fans and advertisers following along as if it was the European leg of her tour.

After the big reveal of her relationship with the Chiefs’ Travis Kelce, Chiefs games where she made an appearance were 14% more effective than a typical NFL regular season game. Granted, fans were 16% less engaged with those ads than they were during games when she didn’t show up, but brands saw a boost immediately.

Experian and Pfizer ads were 13% and 9% more effective, respectively, during the Chiefs games that Swift attended. Meanwhile, Kelce’s Pfizer (27%), DirecTV (24%), and Campbell’s (15%) ads were all more effective than those without him in them.

“She’s a phenomenon that transcends everything,” Krim said. “Will that storyline continue into the season? I think so. But she’s on tour, so I don’t know if she’ll have much time to go to any games.”

4. Univision speaks to the fanbase

The NFL has made efforts in recent years to highlight Hispanic players and staff, put Hispanic superstars at the center of Super Bowl campaigns, and make Spanish-language ads part of its mainstream marketing. Its advertisers have received the message.

During Univision’s Super Bowl broadcast this year, nine of its 10 most effective spots were at least partially in Spanish. That included two of the NFL’s ads spotlighting players and its Mundo NFL service, but it also included a Verizon ad featuring J. Balvin and a Michelob ULTRA ad with Lionel Messi that was 306% more effective than the average Univision Super Bowl ad.

“You’re seeing a higher percentage of mixed language spots where there’s some English and some Spanish in the same ad, and I thought it was just really intriguing that you got more Spanish language spots ads in the Univision broadcast of the Super Bowl,” Krim said. “You don’t have to have a pure Spanish language spot, but it does sure help when you’re in an environment like Univision.” 

5. Christmas is a football holiday

For anyone wondering how Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL games will perform—or if advertisers will leap at $800,000 ads or $5 million sponsorship packages—last year’s matchups on Fox, CBS, and ABC provide an indirect answer.

While not exactly Netflix’s streaming platform, EDO noted that the networks’ three Christmas Day games produced results for sponsors that were well beyond what primetime programming or other regular-season games could offer. The evening matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers on ABC was 75% more effective at driving engagement than the primetime average.

Meanwhile, ads from Verizon (458% more effective than the average NFL Christmas Day ad), Bud Light (494%), Capital One (663%), T-Mobile (771%), and Burger King (1,087%) far exceeded expectations. Even prescription multiple sclerosis drug Kesimpta’s spot with former Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn Sigler was 476% more effective than the average Christmas or Thanksgiving NFL ads.

“I don’t think it’s correct to assume that just because it’s Christmas day that people who are holiday season marketers don’t care about reaching people anymore,” Krim said. “One of the smartest places to advertise among marketers for engagement rates in many categories is the week after Christmas. There are a lot of categories that care about that moment in time.”