The NFL and Paramount Share Game Plan for TV Sports Future

The way we watch television and televised ads is changing, and an ADWEEK House session on Wednesday reminded the Cannes Lions crowds that few industries are impacted by connected TV as acutely as sports marketing.

In an invitation-only Group Chat, presenting sponsor Innovid’s CMO Dani Cushion opened up the discussion with Paramount Advertising chief operating officer Steve Ellis by delving into the data behind media buying for a Super Bowl 58 viewing audience that was “bigger than [the one that watched] the moon landing.”

The two then handed the event over to moderator and NFL Network host MJ Acosta-Ruiz, whose group discussion entitled “The Touchdowns Powering Marketing Gold: Tuning into TV to Score Big” included Los Angeles Rams CMO Kathryn Kai-Ling Frederick; former Rams and Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle and current Amazon Thursday Night Football Analyst Andrew Whitworth and Angel City FC; and Los Angeles Golf Club owner Alexis Ohanian.

“It’s an unbelievable panel who understands the real concept of reach,” Acosta-Ruiz said.
“The real concept of impact and interaction with the fans, with the consumer, with the folks who are putting butts in seats,”

With topics ranging from viewing and buying habits to intergenerational interaction, the group put its personal touch on the wide-ranging world of modern sports marketing.

At the buzzer

Even as sports continue to drive tremendous viewership, the way that the audience interacts with ads has changed completely.

“TV ads as we used to watch them are not the same,” Cushion said. “I have watched Premier League soccer games and, at halftime, taken out my phone, bought Ferrero Rocher and had it delivered the same day from Target. The impulse buying thing is real, and that shoppable behavior that this sort of motion engenders is really interesting.”

Broadcasters have taken notice. During the most recent Super Bowl, Ellis noted that Paramount created ads that allowed viewers to add its shows like Halo and Fire Country to watch lists or drive traffic to a partner like Pfizer. 

Pointing out that 90% of the audience of a typical social media ad disappears within four seconds, Ellis said this is the year to tout the virtues of a 30-second, non-skippable ad and the metrics behind it.

“I feel like we’ve ceded the story about the effectiveness of the ad format to platforms for a long time,” Ellis said. “We all know that they are important, but if we do our job and improve our ability to measure attribution and performance, we will prove what to me is obvious, which is a nonskippable 3-second ad on a 60-inch screen, let’s just say is at least as effective as a four-second ad on a six-inch screen.”

Breakaway speed

To reach evolving audiences, the content of sports marketing holds as much value as its medium. Frederick pointed to the Rams’ beachfront Draft House as an example of how a brand can set itself apart in a crowded, easily distracted market.

“When we think about a market like Los Angeles that has not successfully sustained an NFL team for decades on decades, to build a fandom means you have to break through,” Frederick said. “You’ve got over 17 professional sports teams, then you have the Hollywood Bowl, you have the beach, you have the mountains…so the war for attention is real.”

But not just any campaign breaks through the noise. There has to be some degree of truth behind the message that brands, broadcasters and personalities are delivering through ads and social, otherwise it’ll simply be tuned out.

“There is a lot of performative authenticity,” Acosta-Ruiz said. “Listening to the younger generation, they sniff that out in two seconds—’no, you’re not like this, it’s very obvious, you’re reading that off of the script.’ Even if you are reading it, if you feel it, if you mean it, it cuts through deeper.”

Your kids as your market

As sports marketers attempt to navigate audiences and wonder what Gen Z and Gen Alpha expect from them, Whitworth offered a glimpse of being a 40-year-old left tackle in the NFL who young players went to for advice. When he told Rams players at a recent media day what life was like when he was a rookie in 2006—no iPhone, minimal social media, the third PlayStation, the first Wii—he noted that their access to technology meant they knew more than their predecessors did about the technical aspects of their sport and business.

What they want, Whitworth found, is community: To be part of something, to know someone cares about them, to learn how to handle stressful situations life throws at them.

“Why are athletes good at branding and marketing? Because every single year, we put our bodies on the line with one message that we’re getting from the person who leads us and we try to carry that message through to chase success,” Whitworth said. “Just like every one of you guys, when you start a company say this is the message for this year. that’s what we do for a living—but the difference is we get punched in the face to fight for that message.”

Ohanian, who was “so happy you did not introduce me as the creator of Reddit,” bought into Angel City FC of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) after watching the Seattle Reign—which had U.S. National Team star Megan Rapinoe on its roster at the time—sell for just $3.5 million 2019. Citing the influence of internet communities, stars like Alex Morgan and successful franchises like Ryan Reynolds’ and Rob McIlhenney’s Welcome to Wrexham, Ohanian invested in the women’s sports future he wanted to see.

That extends to his daughter, who is almost seven and isn’t allowed on social media. Instead, she golfs each Sunday with her instructor and goes to golf camp during the summer. Since her instructor is a woman and her camp is for girls, Ohanian said she’s grown to believe that golf is a women’s sport and “her dad on his driving range” and “a bunch of other old white dudes” are just waiting to pick up their daughters from golf.

While Ohanian loves that idea—and that she could go pro or hit balls better than her group and work or whoever asks her out on a date—he’s aware that golf is not quite as she envisions. While he doesn’t want to shatter a six-year-old’s worldview, he knows he’ll have to navigate the sport’s reality.

“I know though I still need to help build that resilience and for now I’m enjoying it because hand-to-god she thinks all of us old white dudes are just waiting for our daughters,” Ohanian said. “And I want her to think of that sport that way, and I want her to think of the world that way, but the reality is it’s not like that and we’ve got to do our job to get her ready for it.”