Toyota's “We Roll Deep Anthem” ad features NFL fans and stars “embarking on an adrenaline-filled NFL adventure.”
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Automakers are once again investing in advertising during the National Football League season after a slowdown in recent years.
Toyota Motor Corporation, Hyundai Motor Company And Detroit automakers are among those expected to leverage the NFL and its games as major advertising platforms in the coming months. Toyota, in particular, is entering football season as the “official automotive partner of the NFL,” a first for the world’s largest automaker.
“There [are] “There are a lot of variables that can affect budgets, but automakers are starting to recover,” said Ryan Briganti, director of advertising sales at From Paramount CBS Sports, which broadcasts NFL games every week on CBS and Paramount+, said: “We have automotive advertising across our entire portfolio.”
In recent years, the auto industry has significantly cut advertising and marketing budgets because it didn't have enough vehicles to sell. The Covid-19 pandemic and supply chain issues led to historically low vehicle inventory levels. However, vehicle inventory levels have been growing amid high interest rates and economic fears, and automakers are turning to live sports, especially the NFL, to help promote new products.
General Motors, For one, GM expects to increase advertising spending by more than $400 million during the second half of the year compared with the first six months to promote new or redesigned vehicles. GM declined to comment on the details of the spending, including how much of that amount is tied specifically to NFL advertising, but reiterated that it remains significantly below historical levels.
The NFL is a crucial piece of automakers’ advertising strategy. During last year’s NFL season, from September through February, about 44% of national television automotive ad spending budgets went to the NFL, according to media planning and data firm Guideline. That compares with 31% of budgets across all sectors, the firm reports.
“The impact of the NFL on the automotive advertising industry is really, really substantial,” said Alberto Leyes, Guideline's chief product strategist.
Boosting TV viewership
NFL games dominate viewership on traditional television. Last year's NFL regular-season games averaged 17.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Meanwhile, the Super Bowl drew 123.7 million viewers on average.
The NFL’s consistent viewership (despite customers fleeing pay-TV packages) has led to an increase in the value of its broadcast rights deals, which in turn have been a major factor in NFL team valuations. Today, an NFL team is worth an average of $6.49 billion, according to CNBC’s 2024 Official NFL Team Valuations.
The advertising market as a whole has shown signs of recovery this year, particularly for streaming and digital players. Overall, live sports continue to generate the largest ad spend, recession or not.
“We’ve seen much stronger growth in 2024 than in any of the post-COVID years,” Leyes said of total media spending. “We know we’re going to have a strong second half of the year as well, with the NFL returning.”
Last NFL season, automakers were the most-watched brand industry, accounting for more than 10% of TV ad impressions, according to advertising data firm iSpot.
Disney, The company that broadcasts “Monday Night Football” on its television and streaming networks, namely ESPN, has seen “continuous positive double-digit growth over the last five years” when it comes to advertising spending by automakers, said Andrew Messina, senior vice president of sales for ESPN. Disney Advertising. Messina highlights the growth, especially of Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan Engine and parent company Chrysler Stellantis.
Brands have also begun to expand their commitments to include sponsorship opportunities alongside advertising slots, Messina said.
Automakers own “key marketing real estate” on “Sunday Night Football,” which airs on from Comcast NBC television network and streaming service Peacock, according to Mark Marshall, president of global advertising and partnerships for NBCUniversal. While traditional television still drives the bulk of auto ads, there has been a larger presence on Peacock, which has streamed exclusive NFL games for the past year.
According to Guideline, viewership for NFL broadcasts grew by about 7% over the past season, while ad spending on NFL programming doubled that pace at 14%. Automotive ad spending has increased by 17% over the past two seasons and is expected to rise again this year, according to Leyes.
“For automotive brands in particular, we've seen 139% year-over-year growth as they look to be more precise with their media spend in a complex US market,” said Jenny Wall, chief marketing officer at TV measurement company VideoAmp.
New advertising campaigns
Toyota, as the “Official Automotive Partner of the NFL,” this week launched a new advertising campaign for the NFL season called “Roll Deep.”
It debuted an “anthem spot” for the campaign. Toyota also had a prominent role in the NFL's season opener on Thursday night.
Toyota's halftime show during Thursday night's game between the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs as the two clubs kick off the NFL season on NBC and Peacock.
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For Toyota, it marks the start of what will be “a season-long content calendar across linear broadcast, digital, paid social media and gaming formats,” the automaker said.
Toyota decided to pursue a new partnership with the NFL after a comprehensive review of its marketing and advertising spending, according to Dedra DeLilli, vice president of marketing communications for Toyota North America.
The automaker had already advertised and managed sponsorships around NFL games, but felt the best value for its media investment was to expand the partnership to become the league’s official automotive sponsor.
“The most compelling aspect of this partnership is that we have access to 218 million highly diverse and highly engaged NFL fans. That's nearly 72% of the population. You won't find scalability and diversity like that in any other American sport,” DeLilli said.
“It's a perfect match,” he said.
DeLilli declined to disclose Toyota's advertising spending for the NFL. This comes after a successful partnership with this year's Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.
Stellantis is expected to launch new ads for the NFL season soon, including some related to its Jeep brand, but a spokeswoman declined to provide additional details.
Hyundai will continue to play a prominent role during NFL broadcasts, including as the title sponsor of NBC’s Sunday Night Football kickoff show for the seventh consecutive year.
The company declined to provide details of its spending plans, but Hyundai Motor America CEO Randy Parker said the company's spending is expected to remain at the same level as last year.
“We want to capture consumers' attention when they're watching live TV,” he told CNBC. “We think from a strategic perspective that's very, very important… Especially with sporting events, you can see the number of viewers increasing year after year.”
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC. NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics holds the U.S. broadcast rights to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.
