Fantasy Football
As summer turns to fall, men and women throughout this great country prepare to battle one another in fantasy football. Fantasy football is an online game where a person pretends to be a manager of a fake football team, comprised of real players, which then competes against another fake football team of real players. The league is fantasy, the championship is fantasy, but for the players who sacrifice their time for fantasy football each year it is all too real. Each year the population of fantasy football players grows and advertisers are lining up to tap into this extremely engaged audience.
There are over 30 million fantasy football players in the U.S. and Canada alone. That is a 54% increase in player activity from two years ago. The fantasy sports industry is an $800 million industry and in the mist of this economic downturn players are paying an average of $73 to join a league, compared to $59 just last year. Not surprising considering the average household income for a fantasy football player is $81,000. The audience is heavily shifted towards the male demographic with around 80% male participation and 20% female participation, however, the female population has started to grow. In 2007 only 7% of fantasy football players were female. Finally, fantasy football players spend hours and hours per week on sites like Yahoo!, CBS Sports, and ESPN analyzing their team and looking to make the next big move.
It is not often that you have a dedicated audience on a Web site for hours that you know so much information about and marketers are fighting over online advertising opprotunities. The entire Yahoo! fantasy football site is powered by Subway. Subway has always been heavily involved with the NLF due to their sponsorship of halftime show on CBS. On Yahoo, Subway has multiple banner ads and will run certain promotions throughout the year dedicated to capturing the attention of these fans. Makes sense; football watchers love food so if you are a sub shop and can advertise $5 foot-long specials to individuals who spend their Sundays staring at your brand, it sounds pretty smart. On CBS Sports, Ford will advertise their F-150 pickup and Mustang vehicles. Ford believes that it is a great audience for them to advertise to as the fantasy football demographics match up very well with their purchasing demographics.
There are not just Web sites that are attracting the attention from fantasy players; technology is allowing players to stay connected while on the go. There are a number of smart phone applications and iPhone applications that are dedicated to providing fantasy football players with information. Snickers has decided to develop an iPhone app that will deliver scores and updates to fantasy players as well as brand information. This is the second season that Snickers has developed a dedicated fantasy football campaign.
Finally, one company is launching their own fantasy football league and contest. Best Buy has decided to create a league at http://www.bestbuyfantasy.com/. The contest allows consumers each week to pick a new team and play against a featured celebrity in order to win electronic prizes from Best Buy. The company is hoping to attract a number of participants who are interested in not only playing fantasy football but also Best Buy’s electronic products.
While the leagues, games and championships might be fake, the dollars within fantasy football are not. Over the past few years the popularity of the game has grown and advertisers are now fighting at the chance to engage in conversations with this social network. As the popularity of the NLF continues to grow and technology allows players to stay consistently connected, expect the fantasy football money-making machine to keep on growing.
Tags: Best Buy, Fantasy Football, Snickers
