Fantasy football is growing in popularity every year with over 27 million Americans participating in fantasy football. Those 27 million participates spend over 800 million dollars per year on fantasy sports services and media, this is accordng to the article featured in Adweek . Fantasy football is the most popular and advertisers need to capitalize on this while the season is being played. Advertisers want to hit their target audience in every way possible. Fantasy football has really taken to all avenues of marketing. Being an active participate in fantasy football I notice advertisements for fantasy football. This article focuses on how big fantasy football has become. I believe that it is necessary for fantasy football marketers to hit the target audience in every conceivable way. I have also come up with some unique ways to market fantasy football and what direction fantasy football should go moving forward.
No longer is fantasy football solely an on-line activity, there is room for sustainable growth. Of course marketers want you to join there league. Some of the most popular leagues are ESPN, Yahoo, CBS and NFL.com. It doesn't just stop at joining the league, fantasy football participants think much about there team and they want to fully emerge themselves in the league. Marketers should and are taking advantage of this. There is XM satellite radio programs, television programs like Fantasy Football Now and on-line blogs that rank players and tell you who to start from week to week. This information is crucial to fantasy football participates and these participants will pay attention and listen to what the "expert" has to say. I believe marketers could take advantage of this by using product placement while the expert is talking. Because the audience is paying attention so closely they could mention a product during there advice. For example, a fantasy guru could have "an Old Spice Odor Lock of the Week" which would explain the NFL player you should start each week. This kind of exposure could be highly beneficial to a product and produce awareness.
One topic of discussion concerning fantasy football is whether a site should charge customers or not. CBS charges 179 dollars a season for a league pass while Yahoo's is free. Although there is a lot of benefits to CBS's League Pass I think free is the way to go. The two most important words for markers are "free" and "new" I believe this holds true in fantasy football. Eventually Yahoo will offer what CBS has to offer for free. Customers would rather buy a "Sunday Ticket" on Dish to watch all of their players rather than spending that money on CBS's League Pass.
The last idea I have for markets of fantasy football is to incorporate their product in popular television shows. The television show “The League” on FX focuses on a group of friends that play fantasy football. This would be a perfect opportunity for NFL.com to advertise. I watch the league weekly and have not seen one Ad for anything related to fantasy football. Advertisers need to advertise on a plethora of television stations not just ESPN. Fantasy football is a part of the culture in America and is here to stay.
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/billion-dollar-draft-136370
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/billion-dollar-draft-136370
Some of the numbers in this article are amazing. The fact that CBS sports makes almost $50 million for those advertising spots on their websites shows how prevalent fantasy football is becoming in society. Also when ESPN The Magazine didn't print their fantasy preview magazine, it was estimated they lost $4 million in advertising revenue. Those are some big dollars right there, and with the amount of people playing now, 27 million, it is a market that advertisers are trying to reach. I totally and 100% agree with the idea that fantasy football is starting to become like the March Madness basketball brackets that go on every year. It goes on in office pools now, and is becoming more known around the U.S.
ReplyDeleteAll this fantasy football talk reminds me....I need to go set my fantasy line up for this week.