Dive Brief:
- In year two of the college football playoffs, the first two playoff bowl games were broadcast on ESPN on New Year’s Eve and the ad spots were a sellout.
- ESPN had been concerned that the timing would hurt ratings and even lobbied to have the date changed, but advertisers apparently didn’t share those worries about the audience size.
- Scatter spots for the upcoming college football championship game are going for as high as $1.25 million.
Dive Insight:
Early last year, ESPN tried to get the College Football Playoff brain trust to move the two semifinal games to Saturday to avoid the New Year’s Eve distractions. That request was denied and ESPN went with an extensive marketing campaign that took advantage of Disney, its parent company, and that extensive base of media outlets to turn New Year’s Eve into a football holiday event.
Ed Erhardt, president of global customer marketing and sales at ESPN, told Ad Age before the games, "We've been on a heck of a run and we're very pleased with how our advertising partners have responded to how we've been able to position New Year's Eve as a destination and an opportunity."
Ad sales for the two New Year’s Eve games were helped by the fact that 70% of ESPN’s college football playoff inventory is sold across the coveted championship game, the two semifinal games and four other major bowls that were played on New Year’s Day.