Sports Fans Pay Attention to TV Ads Out of Home: Survey

A new study on out-of-home viewing of Fall sports found that 92% of those responding said they paid attention to at least some of the advertising shown, according to Nielsen.

Nielsen surveyed both the general population of adults 18 and older, as well as Hispanic English dominant viewers and found that 75% of of adults said they were somewhat to very likely to notice the brand or product advertised during a game they watch out of home.

Among the Hispanic viewers, 82% said they were likely or very likely to notice a the brand in a commercial they saw on TV while away from home.

Younger viewers also noticed advertising while watching sports away from home. Nielsen said one third of respondents in the 18 to 24 age bracket recognized a product, purchased and/or talked about a product they say on linear TV out of home.

The results are important because advertisers pay big bucks to advertise during live sports and increasingly, out-of-home viewer are being baked into the ratings used to determine the price of in-game commercials.

Nielsen said that when people watch sports away from home, they were most likely watching with friends (70%) or family (60%).

In fact, watching with other or at parties were the main reasons why viewers chose not to watch from the comfort of their own couches.

Across all generations, restaurants and bars were the most popular places to watch fall sports away from home. That was followed by in someone else’s home, at a gym and at work. Other places getting a significant amount of responses were while on the go (such as being in a taxi), in a hotel room and in an airport.

The average age of the out of home viewer was 42, with an average income of $68,000. Half.of them had a college or graduate degree. Among Hispanic out of home viewers, the average age was 31 and the average income was $58,000.

Nielsen said it study was conducted from Nov. 19 through Nov 27, 2018, with 8,000 respondents who watched NCAA football, NBA basketball, professional soccer and NFL football.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.