The word fan comes from the word fanatic, meaning an enthusiastic devotee, usually as a spectator. And on Sunday, February 13, there will be inspiring moments both on the field and on screen—for fans around the globe to experience.
Not surprisingly, the NFL is the most popular sports league among Americans; 92 of the top 100 most watched telecasts in 2021 were either live NFL games or NFL studio programming. What is surprising, however, is that the two teams headed to Super Bowl LVI rank 27 and 29 (in terms of the number of fans) among the 32 teams in the NFL. But we know it takes a lot more than a fanbase to get to the big game. That said, these two teams have the opportunity to gain some new fans amid the season-ending hype. While this is a tale of two teams, it’s also an epic matchup of two dynamic quarterbacks e their conference-winning teams.
First, we have the Cincinnati Bengals: an “against all odds” team with an offensive Rookie of the Year wideout, an All-Pro running back and a defensive line–with two of the NFL’s sack leaders–all guided by a Joe Cool quarterback versus the Los Angeles Rams: a team formed through a compilation of coincidences; garnering an outstanding quarterback, supported by a defensive lineup of superstars and a wide receiver—coincidentally from the other Ohio NFL team, the Cleveland Browns. Add another coincidence to the list for this Rams team: they will play with a home-field advantage, as the league determined the game would be played at SoFi Stadium well before the 2021-22 season began.
O fandom está crescendo fora dos EUA.
And this Super Bowl experience for fans is going to be exciting everywhere—with NFL.com touting the 2022 ways to watch the Super Bowl across countries and languages. While the NFL is historically an “American” sport, it does have a very large global fanbase, with fandom growing globally through its international games in Mexico and the U.K.
Torcedores nacionais
In the U.S. alone, sports programming accounted for 98% of the most-viewed programs across broadcast and 72% of the most-viewed programs on cable television between January and September 2021, with last year’s Super Bowl LV accounting for 20.3 billion minutes viewed. Despite both teams’ rank in fanbases, the NFL is still the most popular sport in both Cincinnati and Los Angeles, with interest levels the highest for the NFL in both markets, trailed only by Major League Baseball.
O que realmente importa é o jogo - ou os anúncios?
With the NFL enjoying a big increase in regular season TV viewership, the Super Bowl LVI ad game got off to an early start this year, and the final handful of ad units available were sold just last week, securing as much as $7 million for 30-second spots.
As brands seek ways to establish deeper, more personalized connections with consumers, awareness and engagement remain paramount. Now, given the wealth of information known about consumers, marketers can do more. In a recent interview with Forbes, Nielsen CMCO Jamie Moldafsky highlighted how consumers increasingly expect brands to understand them better, including their shopping behaviors, attitudes, needs and interests. With that data in hand, brands can put consumers at the center of their strategies and campaigns to create experiences that matter. Importantly, marketers must be more focused than ever on their target market, desired behaviors and a real-time insight. And while many people focus on the on-field action of the Super Bowl, many think of the ads.
Vamos dar uma olhada em algumas das categorias de marcas com os maiores gastos durante a temporada regular da NFL de 2021 e ver como elas se comparam aos hábitos de compra dos espectadores do Super Bowl.
Automóveis
A categoria automotiva gastou quase US$ 1 bilhão em anúncios publicitários durante os jogos da NFL e programas pré/pós-jogo em fábricas, concessionárias, associações de concessionárias e acessórios automotivos - colocando os automóveis como a principal categoria de marca em termos de gastos com anúncios na temporada regular de 2021. Esse gasto será bem aproveitado entre os 19,5 milhões de espectadores do Super Bowl que planejam comprar um veículo nos próximos 12 meses, de acordo com a Nielsen Scarborough: 18,8% planejam comprar um veículo novo/usado/alugado, 5% acima da população em geral, e 43% deles planejam comprar um veículo novo/usado/alugado.
Entre os que planejam comprar um veículo novo, os SUVs, picapes e carros médios são os mais populares entre os espectadores do Super Bowl:
- SUV: 40,1%
- Camionete: 26,5%
- Carro de médio porte: 12,6%
Enquanto 7,5% dos torcedores do Bengals em Cincinnati planejam comprar um veículo novo nos próximos 12 meses, 46% deles planejam comprar um SUV, seguido por picapes (21,2%) e carros médios (15,8%). Dos 10% de torcedores do Rams em Los Angeles que planejam comprar um veículo novo nos próximos 12 meses, 29% planejam comprar um SUV, seguido por híbridos/EVs (27%) e caminhonetes (25%).
Quick Service Restaurants
A categoria de restaurantes é uma das que mais gasta com anúncios de TV na programação de futebol americano - e é amplamente dominada por restaurantes de serviço rápido (QSRs). Os espectadores do Super Bowl e os torcedores de ambos os times têm uma forte combinação de categorias com QSRs e restaurantes, já que 89% dos espectadores nacionais do Super Bowl usaram um QSR nos últimos 30 dias. Os Bengals e os Rams são mais fãs de QSRs do que o público em geral:
- 94% dos torcedores do Rams visitaram uma QSR nos últimos 30 dias
- 95% dos torcedores do Bengals visitaram uma QSR nos últimos 30 dias
Cerveja
Apesar da grande variedade de propagandas que vemos durante a temporada de futebol, os gastos com bebidas alcoólicas são sempre altos, com as marcas de cerveja liderando.
Across cable TV, network TV, and spot TV during NFL pre-game, post-game, and in-game broadcasts in the 2021 regular season, there was an estimated ad spend of $201 million by the beer, wine and liquor category, per Nielsen Ad Intel. The alcohol category’s ad spend is dominated by beer brands; however, seltzer has cut into the market share. Approximately 73% of the spend ($148 million) beer brands account for, while 26% of the spend ($53 million) in the category is for hard seltzer brands.
- Os torcedores do Bengals em Cincinnati estão bebendo cerveja light, com aproximadamente 36% tendo consumido uma cerveja light nacional nos últimos 30 dias.
- Alternativamente, a cerveja importada é a categoria de cerveja mais popular entre os torcedores dos Rams, com 41% dos Rams tendo consumido uma cerveja importada nos últimos 30 dias.
- Quem assiste ao Super Bowl tem 22% mais chances de ter consumido cerveja nos últimos 30 dias do que a geração pop.
Quando as duas equipes entrarem em campo no domingo, os torcedores de todo o mundo assistirão a um dos maiores eventos esportivos e culturais do ano. Para os despreparados, isso significa que ainda há tempo para comprar lanches e cerveja. E para aqueles que não estão interessados em saber se os Bengals ou os Rams ganharão o jogo, vista seu moletom "Só estou aqui para o show do intervalo", ative a mídia social e aproveite o poder da narrativa criativa por meio dos anúncios.
Metodologia
Os insights deste artigo foram extraídos de:
- Insights de fãs da Nielsen
- Nielsen Scarborough January – July 2021 USA
- Nielsen Ad Intel
- Classificações de TV da Nielsen
