The NFL is the most powerful marketing machine in the world. When it comes to fan engagement and finding new financial opportunities, nobody is better than the NFL.
Statista reports an estimated 29.2 million Americans participated in fantasy football in 2022. Considering that 50.4 million people in the U.S. participate in all fantasy sports, that’s a fantastic percentage engaged in fantasy football.
The Super Bowl is the most-watched television program annually. Last February’s Super Bowl LVIII became the most-watched telecast of all time, with an estimated 123.7 million viewers tuning in to see the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers.
Not content with an 18-week season and a month-long playoff schedule, the NFL marketing machine has turned other off-season events into major celebrations.
The NFL Draft in Detroit this year drew 100,000 fans. The 2023 Draft drew an estimated 54 million unique viewers on television and online.
Now, the NFL has turned the schedule release into another high-engagement event with fans. Teams did their best to outdo one another with social media posts announcing their schedules.
Amid the NBA and NHL playoffs and getting into the heart of the MLB season, the NFL steals sports fans’ attention with something as mundane as the schedule release. It’s particularly impressive, considering we already knew what teams would be playing each other.
Sports radio was captivated all week, predicting wins and losses for hometown teams. Lost in the jubilation and worry that came with the schedule release was the announcement that another streaming service would broadcast two games this year.
In January, I wrote a column critical of the NFL and NBC for making the Miami Dolphins at the Kansas City Chiefs Wild Card Playoff game available exclusively streaming on NBC’s Peacock.
The number of negative responses to that column was surprising. People commented that Thursday Night Football was already streaming on Amazon Prime, which requires a subscription, and Monday Night Football on ESPN, which requires cable. Some noted other games are only available on the NFL Network, which isn’t part of most basic cable plans. Others thought the six bucks to watch the game wasn’t a big deal.
At the time, I warned that the NFL would continue to move more games to more streaming platforms, and perhaps pay-per-view, unless fans were outraged. The NFL will make more games available exclusively on additional subscription-based streaming platforms in the coming season.
Along with the schedule release, the NFL announced two games on Christmas Day, a Wednesday. Wednesday football with the Kansas City Chiefs at the Pittsburgh Steelers (1:00 ET) and the Baltimore Ravens at the Houston Texans (4:30 ET). The Christmas Day games will be streamed exclusively on Netflix.
Netflix, which has historically avoided live sports, announced a three-year deal with the NFL. Analysts estimate the cost for each game to be $150 million. The NFL is impressive. The league keeps finding ways to milk additional revenue, even if it means playing games on a Wednesday.
To watch all the NFL games in the 2024-25 season, fans will need access to the four major networks: ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, cable for ESPN and the NFL Network, and subscriptions to Amazon Prime for Thursday Night Football, a Black Friday game, and a Wild Card playoff game; Peacock which will have exclusive rights to the Eagles and Packers week one from Brazil; and Netflix for the two Christmas Day games.
Fastcompany.com analyzed the costs and concluded: “As monthly subscription fees for cable and streaming platforms keep climbing, and with the NFL considering auctioning off certain games in future seasons, it’s conceivable that the price tag for watching NFL games on TV could soar to $1,000 plus.”
The NFL is continuing to add games to additional streaming services as subscription fatigue increases. A Wall Street Journal article from earlier this year reports, “About one-quarter of U.S. subscribers to major streaming services—a group that includes Apple TV+, Discovery+, Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock and Starz—have canceled at least three of them over the past two years.”
There’s no doubt that the NFL’s marketing machine is mighty. As it spreads itself across more subscription-based services, is there a point where even the NFL will find fewer people watching games? The NFL thinks not.
Andy Bloom is president of Andy Bloom Communications. He specializes in media training and political communications. He has programmed legendary stations including WIP, WPHT and WYSP/Philadelphia, KLSX, Los Angeles and WCCO Minneapolis. He was Vice President Programming for Emmis International, Greater Media Inc. and Coleman Research. Andy also served as communications director for Rep. Michael R. Turner, R-Ohio. He can be reached by email at andy@andybloom.com or you can follow him on Twitter @AndyBloomCom.
