Matt Brent argues advertisers won't abandon the NFL despite player scandals like Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson because the league delivers unmatched live TV audiences. A Sunday night game hit a 14 rating. No alternative can replicate that scale or drive product sales the way football does.
Welcome back. Some of the NFL's biggest sponsors coming out voicing disapproval of the league and the recent behavior of some of its players. But they aren't going as far as pulling ads. Joining me now in London to discuss this is Matt Brent. He is founder and CEO of Marketing Media. Why not? Good to see you. Thanks for joining us.
Good to see Maria, of course.
What do you think? Do you think we're at that point where advertisers are going to start pulling out? Obviously we've heard from a handful of them and of course the behavior has just been striking this convers.
Right. I mean, the fact is the NFL is a force in this country and nowhere else on television can an advertiser replicate the scale and live television television viewing power that the NFL brings to the table. So there's really nowhere for the advertisers to go. So although they can certainly express their disapproval, I think it's highly unlikely you're going to see any advertiser back out.
So you don't think an advertiser is going to back out then?
No, I don't think you're going to see advertiser back out. And the NFL has a long memory. So, you know, if a beverage company backs out, there's two competitions, competitors waiting to fill their slot and there's, you know, there's no telling when they're going to be able to actually get back in again. I mean these companies still need to sell products and to sell their products they need to create scale and get millions and millions of eyeballs. And most of television is time shifted and watched over TiVo and the commercials are skipped. The NFL has its viewers glued to the television. Sunday night NFL football this past weekend got a 14 rating and obviously it was the highest rated show amongst males, male adults, but it was also the highest rated show amongst female adults. This after the week of our that happened with Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson. So if it's not going to cause a drop in viewership now amongst female viewers, it probably never will.
So you don't think we're even going to see viewer backlash?
I mean, we haven't so far. People are obsessed with the NFL. They're obsessed with fantasy football. Children are obsessed with the stars and there just seems to be a disconnect. I understand if I'm a CMO of a major Fortune 500 corporation that to be completely disapproving of what you're seeing from the players, but at the same time they have a job to do and the job to do is to move, move the needle and drive product sell through. And the NFL has proven to do it time in and time out.
Really interesting. What about the NFA's NFL's handling of all of this? Do you think that at some point, you know, advertisers will start pressing for, you know, more attention to what's going on and, and a better handling of it?
Well, I mean, I think you saw the kind of course correct with Adrian Peterson. At first he was going to be allowed to play this weekend and now all of a sudden he's, he's, he can't play indefinitely. You know, the Ray Rice thing, it wasn' until TMZ broadcast the video where there was the outrage to suspend him. He was actually supposed to play the next week before the TMZ video came out. And a lot of people are saying the NFL did see the video and they were just ignoring it. So Roger Goodell and his team, you know, a lot are saying that he has mishandled the case and you know, advertisers and the press and there's a lot of constituents that are starting to doubt how the NFL is handling it. But it's really Roger Goodell's job is what's on the line at the end of the day. But advertisers, again, they just can't get the scale anywhere else. There's some live viewing events like the Oscars and the Grammys, where you're going to get a live audience, but besides that, that's about it. The television landscape has dramatically changed. People are watching Apple TV and Netflix and Roku and and tons of other sources where they're getting television. But in terms of live, where consumers are glued to TV and watching TV spot, the NFL is where it's at. So they have the leverage and the power right now.
That is really extraordinary. Matt, good to have you on the program. Thanks so much.
