More Commercials=Increased NFL Ad Revenue

While there is concern that ratings are down for NFL broadcasts, advertising revenue continues to be strong, according to the latest figures from Standard Media Index.

According to SMI, in game ad revenues from NFL games increased 2% to $513 million in September.

As TV’s highest rated franchise, the health of NFL ratings is crucial to the networks that pay big bucks for the rights to broadcast games.

SMI notes that one way network are squeezing revenue out of their NFL broadcast s stuffing more ads into them. The research company is a 2% increase in the commercial load in NFL games. If a fan watched every game in the month, they saw 15 minutes more commercials than in 2016.

According to Broadcasting&Cable, the networks are also using NFL games to make up for audience shortfalls in other programming. Make-goods, also known as audience deficiency units, represented 20% of the spots in NFL games in September, up from 13% a year ago.

Unite prices for 30-second spots up 7% across all networks, averaging $515,000.