AFL free-to-air broadcaster Seven has booked more sponsorship and advertising revenue compared to this stage last year.
Part of the reason is the success of the inaugural women's competition, AFLW, in driving public and commercial interest in the code over the past couple of months. The AFLW concludes on Saturday, with the grand final between Brisbane and Adelaide, while Carlton and Richmond kicked off the men's competition last night.
For Seven, having the AFLW lead into the men's game has created a bigger buzz around the code this year.
Seven's network director of sports sales Patrick Moloughney tells AdNews interest in the women’s game, which exceeded expectations for an inaugural season, has given AFL more prominence and a longer runway to engage the corporate sector in the lead up to the footy season.
“Having AFLW right through February, March and culminating in the grand final this weekend has created a lot of talkability in the game that we haven’t seen in a long time,” Moloughney says.
“It’s created a conversation across all platforms, whether it be social media or traditional media, beyond the traditional pre-season games. That’s given us a platform us to have a continual conversation with the corporate world.”
Seven has locked down the same sponsors across all categories except sports betting, which was snapped up by Sportsbet after the AFL’s official betting partner, Crownbet, chose not to take up Seven’s package.
Seven has also added some new sponsors to the mix while ad bookings are “well up” compared to this time last year.
Seven’s top tier corporate partners – Toyota, AAMI, Harvey Norman and Bunnings – have all renewed this season and will have a presence in all of the games Seven broadcasts in the regular season and finals series.
Seven’s other sponsors will be spread out across coverage on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to avoid clutter.
These include returning sponsors NAB, Telstra, McDonald’s, Virgin Australia, Carlton & United Breweries, Industry Super Funds, Suisse, Woolworths, Shaver Shop and Bob Jane. New sponsors this season include Sportsbet, Cebus, Chemist Warehouse and Jim Beam with another brand expected to come on board in the next week or so.
These brands are also likely to appear during some games on Fox Footy as Seven has a commercial agreement to sell spots for three Fox Footy games per week.
Although Fox Footy doesn’t show ads during actual play, it still runs about 15 minutes of commercial content its coverage of each match, allowing Seven to generate revenue from Fox Footy’s broadcast, Moloughney says.
“We don’t see Fox Footy as a competitor from a commercial perspective because it’s very much part of our offering, as is Telstra. Anything that appears on AFL.com or the official app or Telstra TV has our ads and clients appearing throughout,” he adds.
“We’re not just selling Seven. Fox Footy and Telstra are all critical parts of our offering and we’re all in that sandbox together trying to achieve a similar goal.”
Seven’s sponsorship revenue growth, which Moloughney describes as “significant”, provides a solid commercial foundation for the season ahead.
What is perhaps more important for the overall success of a long season, from a commercial perspective, is being able to consistently attract casual advertisers to the game.
“It’s the everyday casual advertiser [we need to attract] who will buy one or two spots per week for a four-week period, come off air, and sample again in another month or so,” Moloughney says.
“We’re finding now that the AFL audience is much more than just a traditional blokes-only domain. Football is bringing families together to be entertained.”
He says the women's competition has helped create a greater interest in the game for young women and attracted new brands to the sport.
"We've seen new brands coming in that have not traditionally sampled the sport. Now they have, they actually want to do more and prepare for the next women's season but not forget the men's competition as well. They want to see how they can incorporate multiple messages throughout the season,” Moloughney says.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.