With football season on the horizon, North Carolinians set to watch the Carolina Panthers make a run at a division title will be subjected to more sports betting ads – whether they like it or not.
This influx of betting-related ads, however, will be capped during NFL broadcasts, as the NFL allows television networks to show no more than six sportsbook ads per game.
Networks can transmit ads in the following slots:
- one spot during each quarter;
- one during the pregame show;
- one at halftime.
In North Carolina, where bettors patiently wait for NC online sports betting to roll out at in the first half of 2024, the same applies – only six ads per game.
NFL exclusive sportsbook partnerships
As it stands, the NFL has exclusive partnership deals with three sportsbooks: FanDuel, Caesars Sportsbook and DraftKings. These three operators can buy spot times during games from the four NFL broadcast partners, NBC, Fox, CBS and ESPN.
Another set of NFL Approved Sportsbook Operators has previously included FOXBet, BetMGM, PointsBet, and WynnBet. However, with FOXBet shuttering operations and WynnBet shutting down the majority of its operations outside brick and mortar sportsbooks and casinos, it’s yet to be seen if only BetMGM and PointsBet will stay on as approved operators.
Online media sports betting partnerships
Hungry for a piece of the action, Amazon signed DraftKings to an 11-year deal making it the exclusive pregame odds provider for Thursday Night football broadcasts on Prime Video.
The $13-million deal reached last year will allow DraftKings to feature its content during all 15 Thursday Night Football games per season.
NFL games will also be available on the streaming services YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels with the NFL Sunday Ticket. The package promoted by FanDuel will include all out-of-market, regular-season Sunday games broadcast on FOX and CBS.
NFL Sunday Ticket can be accessed across the web, TV, mobile, and tablet devices that support YouTube and YouTube TV.
In related news, the NFL expanded its sports betting data deal with Genius Sports for another three years. The groundbreaking deal initially struck in April 2021, grants Genius Sports exclusive official data rights for NFL games.
With this extension, Genius remains the NFL’s exclusive distributor of real-time, official play-by-play statistics, and the NFL’s official sports betting data feed to sports betting operators and media companies.
Part of the new deal includes a multi-year agreement between the NFL and Genius to distribute the league’s Watch and Bet platform starting with the 2023-24 NFL season.
Sports betting ads increase undeterred
As regulators raise the alarm on the exorbitant sums spent on sports betting ads, sportsbooks aren’t planning to downsize their marketing spend.
A report released by ad tracking firm iSpot last Tuesday revealed sports betting impressions in the US grew 25% over the same period during the last few years.
It’s estimated that marketing and advertising across sports betting sites will eclipse $2 billion in 2023.
Furthermore, by 2025, 32 million American adults will have placed a bet, a jump of 39% from 2022.
In the U.S., sports betting is closely associated with the NFL. Nearly 80% of gambling brands’ annual TV ad spend is allotted to the league.
FanDuel is the US market leader when it comes to sports betting ad power. In the first half of 2023, it accounted for 48.8% of impressions, while DraftKings drew 20.7%.
Other notable sports betting brands include:
- BetMGM: 16.37%
- PointsBet: 3.04%
- Fox Bet: 2.93%
And now that North Carolina sports betting is only months away, this surplus in TV betting ads will likely whet the appetite of punters in the Tar Heel State.
By the time sports betting rolls out in North Carolina, fans will know which bets to place, where and how.
Pushing for more responsible gambling
To try and rein in this ad spending spree, regulators and legislators are beginning to tighten the boundaries on marketing.
Earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko introduced legislation to ban ‘predatory’ sports betting advertising.
Efforts to divert attention away from the industry is the main aim of the Coalition for Responsible Sports Betting Advertising.
This group, which is made up of most of the nation’s major professional sports leagues as well as media companies Fox and NBC Universal, wants to ensure sports betting advertising is done responsibly and doesn’t target minors.
In the same vein, the American Gaming Association made some changes to its Responsible Marketing Code for sports betting ads last March. One of the key changes made included a prohibition on ‘risk-free’ bet promotions.
Public’s sentiments on sport betting
It appears that the American public on the whole doesn’t view sports betting in a favorable light.
Disqo, a customer experience platform, gauged the sentiments and online behavior of its 2 million users with regard to sports betting. The platform also surveyed 24,787 consumers on their views towards sports betting advertising and celebrity partnerships.
Forty percent of those polled believe sports leagues could do damage to their reputations if they liaised with sports betting brands; 30% considered it risky for celebrities and TV networks.
Concern is probably merited as sportsbook ads could be causing another stir now that they’ve set their sights on non-sports programming. According to iSpot’s new report, 41.3% of ad impressions took place outside of sports events.
That’s an increase of 25.9% on last year over the same period. TV programs like Friends, OnPatrol: Live, and South Park are the most popular destinations for those sports betting ads.
NCSharp, conducted a focused survey of North Carolinians and legal gambling, and found that 58% of sports betting proponents wanted expanded legal online sports betting because of the revenue it could generate for the state.
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