The fourth month long lockout of the National Football League over a labor dispute between the players and owners resulted in much consternation for the fans. Despite (or maybe even because) of the situation, ad buys have never been larger for the league.
There are five weeks until the NFL season begins in earnest and already the network partners have sold 85 percent of their regular-season inventory. CPMs are indeed meeting the 11 to 13 percent increases from broadcasters secured in the 2011-12 upfront.
Sunday Night Football, which averaged 21.2 million viewers per broadcast last year, has been a particularly big winner. Some of our games are sold out in the high 80s [percent of ads sold], says Seth Winter, head of NBC Sports Group sales & marketing.
NBC was selling ads for the past four months despite the lockout. There was never any real doubt in the mind of the ad market that there would be a resolution, Winter says. All along, the behavior of the key parties reinforced our belief that we would have football in September.
Neil Mulcahy, who runs Fox Sports advertising sales, noted that despite worries, they were well inclined to believe that everything would work out. The bottom line is, the NFL is irreplaceable, Mulcahy said. Anyone who spends a significant amount of dollars with the NFL had to take that chance.
Perhaps the greatest relief is felt by NBC because of Super Bowl XLVI on February 5; as early as May, they had reportedly sold roughly half of the Super Bowl spots at rates as high as $3.3 million for 30 seconds of airtime, with sources indicating that fewer than 20 in-game spots yet remain.
Source: AdWeek
