2023 Black Friday marked a significant event “Black Friday Football” for both Amazon and NFL. Seated in front of the TV at 1:20 pm, I took note of all the advertisements until the end of the game at 6:04 pm.
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In my lighthearted data compilation, here are some key observations:
A substantial 30% of the total showtime, equivalent to 78 minutes out of 274, was occupied by advertisements due to the nature of a football game. I categorized 167 commercial ads into 15 groups, including Amazon, NFL, Automotive, Apparel, CPGs, Electronics, Entertainment, Financial, F&B, Insurance, Retail, Travel, Telecommunications, Others, and Campaign. I opted to count the number of appearances, assuming each ad slot carried a significant financial value.The top four categories by appearance were:
Entertainment at 16% (e.g., DraftKings, Youtube Sunday Night Football)
Amazon entities at 13% (e.g., Amazon Prime, Amazon Visa, Prime Video)
CPGs at 13% (e.g., Duracell, Colgate)
F&B at 12% (e.g., Little Caesars, Taco Bell)
Entertainment at 16% (e.g., DraftKings, Youtube Sunday Night Football)
Amazon entities at 13% (e.g., Amazon Prime, Amazon Visa, Prime Video)
CPGs at 13% (e.g., Duracell, Colgate)
F&B at 12% (e.g., Little Caesars, Taco Bell) Notably, certain ads featured QR codes linking to the company's website, application store, or Amazon shopping page. I am not sure how efficient it was because users had to be ready to scan the QR code before 15-second ad ended. It would be interesting to see the actual conversion rates. The head of Amazon's global sports shared insights into their approach to the NBA in a NY Post sports media podcast. Emphasizing a preference for quality over quantity, it sounded like they were interested in NBA playoffs. However, the fast-paced nature of basketball possibly could pose a challenge in seamlessly integrating e-commerce behaviors without disrupting the viewing experience._
Anticipating more data and analyses in the weeks to come, I think it would be beneficial to have this personalized data at hand, not to get lost in the sea of information. If you feel the same, the full list of Black Friday Football ads is available for download here, noting that it constitutes raw data with a few missing items.
