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Score a touchdown with Experian’s football audience playbook

Published: January 7, 2025 by Lucy Simmonds, Content Marketing Specialist

Huddle up: Target football's biggest fans with Experian Audiences

The stakes are high when it comes to advertising during football’s biggest games as the cost of advertising continues to rise, with the average 30-second TV ad during the 2023-24 Sunday Night Football season priced at $882K. With record viewership at the College Football Playoff and the Super Bowl drawing in 123.7 million average viewers, the largest TV audience on record, it’s no surprise that brands are willing to pay those prices since football games are prime time for reaching engaged audiences. In fact, an estimated 51% of viewers search for an ad they saw during the game, underscoring the potential of second-screen engagement to amplify campaign impact. Whether you advertise on TV during these games or not, brands are exploring how they can use football season to drive a deeper connection to their audience. To do this, brands need data driven strategies.

In this blog post, we’ll reveal audience segments designed for you to craft tailored marketing strategies that resonate with football fans in the stands and on the couch. You can find the complete audience segment name in the appendix.

Make a game-winning play with Experian Audiences

With playoff season fast approaching, it’s the perfect time to go on the offensive and target football fans. Utilize Experian’s syndicated audiences to ensure your marketing messages resonate with fans when they’re the most engaged.

  • Experian’s 2,400+ syndicated audiences are available directly on over 30 leading television, social, programmatic advertising platforms, and directly within Audigent for activation within private marketplaces (PMPs).
  • Reach consumers based on who they are, where they live, and their household makeup. Experian ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset for key demographic attributes.
  • Access to unique audiences through Experian’s Partner Audiences available on Experian’s data marketplace, within Audigent for activation in PMPs and directly on platforms like DirectTV, Dish, Magnite, OpenAP, and The Trade Desk. 

Four football audience categories to add to your advertising lineup

Football fans come in all shapes, sizes, and viewing habits. From dedicated supporters to casual viewers, targeting the right audience can make or break your campaign.

Here are four football audience categories you can target:

  • Sports enthusiasts
  • College football fans
  • 21+ audiences
  • TV viewers

Let’s huddle up and break down the audience segments within each category. Whether it’s tailgating, tuning in, or cheering from the stands, these insights will get your campaign into the end zone.

Sports enthusiasts

Sports enthusiasts

Whether they’re following their favorite teams, attending games in person, or watching professional sports events on TV, football fans are deeply engaged, making them an ideal target for advertisers looking to score big.

Here are five audiences to target:

  1. NFL Enthusiasts
  2. Football (FLA/Fair Lending Friendly)1
  3. Sports Enthusiasts
  4. NFL Stadium Visitors
  5. Professionals Sports Event

College football fans

College football fans

College football fans bring unmatched passion and loyalty, with bowl games during the 2023 season drawing on average of 4.6 million viewers across 40 total games—a 5% increase year-over-year. From students to alumni, these fans represent an invaluable opportunity for advertisers to connect with a deeply invested audience.

Here are four audiences to target to connect with passionate college football fans:

  1. College Football Stadium Visitors
  2. College Football Bowls
  3. College Students
  4. College Sports Venues

21+ audiences

21+ audiences

With 84% of U.S adults reporting that they drink alcohol while watching football on TV, targeting 21+ audiences during game season is a winning play. Whether they’re cracking open a cold one at a tailgate, hosting a game-day party, or relaxing on the couch, these audiences represent a key audience for brands looking to tap into football culture.

Here are four audiences that you can target this post season:

  1. Imported Light Beer Enthusiasts
  2. Domestic/Imported Beer
  3. High-end Spirit Drinkers
  4. Discretionary spend: Alcohol and wine $331 – $726

These audiences can help you serve up campaigns that pour directly into the heart of football fandom.

TV viewers

TV viewers

Football games attract some of the most engaged and diverse TV audiences, with 85% of sports fans preferring to watch live sports on TV rather than in-person. Notably, for the first time, viewers aged 18 to 49 spent the majority of their sports viewing time (54%) via streaming. This shift highlights the immense opportunity for advertisers to connect with highly attentive viewers tuned into every play.

Here are seven audiences that you can use to create a game-winning strategy to reach engaged TV watching football fans:

  1. Cable Satellite or Streaming Network Subscribers
  2. Streaming Video: High Spenders
  3. Cord Cutters
  4. Cable and Streaming TV Service Subscribers
  5. Paid TV High Spenders
  6. Screen Size – Large
  7. Co-Watchers

Whether they’re catching the action on a large TV screen or streaming from their phone, these audiences will help you craft campaigns that deliver results with highly engaged viewers.

Score big with Experian this postseason

As some of football’s biggest games approach, it’s time to huddle up and connect with consumers who live for the thrill of the game.Whether they’re tuning in to cheer for their favorite teams, tailgating with friends, or enjoying the game-day experience from home, Experian Marketing Data provides the playbook to score big with targeting, enrichment, and activation. With Experian’s data-driven insights, you can turn every opportunity into a game-winning play!

Need a custom audience? Reach out to our audience team and we can help you build and activate an Experian audience on the platform of your choice. Additionally, work with Experian’s network of data providers to build audiences and send to an Audigent PMP for activation.

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You can activate our syndicated audiences on-the-shelf of most major platforms. For a full list of Experian’s syndicated audiences and activation destinations, download our syndicated audiences guide.

Explore our other seasonal audiences that you can activate today.

1Fair Lending Friendly” indicates data fields that Experian has made available without use of certain demographic attributes that may increase the likelihood of discriminatory practices prohibited by the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) and Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”). These excluded attributes include, but may not be limited to, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, disability, handicap, family status, ancestry, sexual orientation, unfavorable military discharge, and gender. Experian’s provision of Fair Lending Friendly indicators does not constitute legal advice or otherwise assures your compliance with the FHA, ECOA, or any other applicable laws. Clients should seek legal advice with respect to your use of data in connection with lending decisions or application and compliance with applicable laws.


Appendix

Sports enthusiasts

  • Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Activities and Entertainment > NFL Enthusiasts
  • Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Sports and Recreation > Sports Enthusiast
  • Mobile Location Models > Visits > NFL Stadium Visitors
  • Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Sports > Football (FLA / Fair Lending Friendly)2 Travel Intent > Activities > Professional Sports Event

College sports fans

  • Mobile Location Models > Visits > University Stadium College Football Visitor
  • Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Sports > College Football Bowls
  • Mobile Location Models > Visits > College Students
  • Mobile Location Models > Visits > College Sport Venues

21+ audiences

  • Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Activities and Entertainment > Imported Light Beer Enthusiasts
  • Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > In-Market > Domestic/Imported Beer
  • Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Retail > High-end Spirit Drinkers
  • Financial – Analytics IQ > Discretionary Spend > Alcohol and Wine: $331-$726

TV viewers

  • Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Cable Satellite or Streaming Network Subscribers
  • Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Entertainment > Streaming/Video/Audio/CTV/Cable TV: Streaming Video: High Spenders
  • Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Cord Cutters
  • Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Cable and Streaming Service Subscribers
  • Television (TV) > TV Enthusiasts > Paid TV High Spenders
  • Television (TV) > Viewing Device Type > Screen Size – Large
  • Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Co-Watchers

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Platforms like Amazon and Walmart have developed their own particular advertising ecosystems where they sell ads to marketers within the shopping environment itself. Navigating the sell-side of retail media’s walled gardens While retail media offers marketers unique opportunities, it's not without its challenges. For one, ad space in these environments is limited, so the competition can be difficult on the sell-side, leading to higher ad costs. Additionally, this shift in dynamic also forces marketers to change how they prioritize their marketing channels, looking closer at the results of their efforts rather than focusing on particular channels within the platforms themselves. Opportunities in the buy-side of retail media’s walled gardens Brands on the buy-side see various benefits from advertising within retail media channels and walled gardens. By browsing in an online shopping environment, the users in these ecosystems are likely high-intent shoppers, people who are further down the sales funnel and who are ready to make a purchase soon. Shoppers can also be precisely targeted within these environments, as marketers are given the ability to access very specific audience segments based on details like shopping behavior, preferences, and even purchase history. Omnichannel marketing To more effectively engage audiences even among an abundance of walled garden ecosystems, speakers at the 2023 Cannes Lions Festival discussed the importance of omnichannel marketing. By emphasizing strategies that reach the consumer through multiple touchpoints, marketers can deliver a unified brand experience across channels. This allows marketers to focus more on results than specific advertising channels, including walled garden platforms. Walled gardens aren’t going away in the near future Though various challenges are associated with walled gardens in advertising, they aren't going anywhere. So, what's the current state of these environments throughout the industry? Efforts are being made to break down walled gardens in tech In a handful of countries, regulatory actions have been put forward to address how dominant many major tech companies are in their respective markets. One major example of this is Meta and Google's entanglements in Canada. Currently, neither company can display news on their websites in the Canadian market. This decision was reached to give Canadian news agencies more control over their advertising revenue since, previously, the tech giants received more views and, therefore, gained the ad revenue. Though relatively small, this does indicate a certain shift in dynamic. Why companies are resisting Despite their challenges, walled gardens in 2023 persisted, mainly because they are particularly adept at generating revenue for the tech companies that control them. In 2022, 78 percent of global digital advertising revenue came from these closed ecosystems, and projections expect that figure to rise to 83 percent by 2027. From the viewpoint of a company that operates in a walled garden, the idea of releasing their control over their environment represents losing out on a stream of vast revenue, making letting go of a walled garden ecosystem an unattractive prospect. The future of walled gardens As time progresses, what can digital marketers like you expect from walled garden ecosystems in the near future? A cookieless future A huge element to consider is the transition to a cookieless future. Many major browsers have begun phasing out the use of third-party cookies. In the wake of this decision, many are looking for reasonable alternatives that allow for behavior tracking and more personalized advertising experiences. Solutions like Experian's identity resolution can provide a strong alternative option, allowing marketing strategies to adapt to the current landscape. An influx of mini gardens You should also anticipate the proliferation of various smaller, specialized walled garden ecosystems in the future. These so-called "mini gardens" specialize in more niche audiences and industries, and they can present their own challenges and opportunities. Alternative IDs As you search for new identification methods outside cookies, various alternatives have presented themselves, requiring further exploration and experimentation. Among these are privacy-compliant solutions like Unified ID 2.0, which allow you to serve more personalized ads without compromising the consumer's privacy. Navigating the evolving landscape of walled gardens in 2024 As we begin 2024, you will continue facing opportunities and challenges regarding walled gardens. The 2023 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity re-emphasized how important it is for marketers to stress omnichannel marketing within walled garden environments and become well acquainted with identity resolution solutions as we move into a cookie-less future. All of this requires you to become comfortable with walled gardens being here to stay and innovate to navigate an evolving and developing landscape. We’re here to help you navigate the evolving landscape of walled gardens in 2024. Contact us today. Get in touch Latest posts

Nov 16,2023 by Experian Marketing Services

Navigating a cookieless future: Supply-side think tank recap

A few weeks ago, Experian and OpenX hosted a supply-side think tank at our New York City office. Over 70 industry leaders met to talk about targeting in a cookieless future and how we can reach consumers in intentional ways.  Publishers and supply-side partners shared what challenges they face, what solutions they’re considering, and what the future holds once the third-party cookie begins to deprecate in 2024. In this blog post, we’ll cover the top challenges, cookieless solutions, and actionable strategies we discussed at the event that can help publishers, their partners, and agencies make informed decisions about how to navigate tomorrow’s digital ecosystem.  Four main challenges  Four main challenges were discussed at the event:  First-party data monetization  Publishers possess a wealth of first-party data, but collecting and centralizing this information can be difficult for actionable insights. Streamlining data centralization and organizing first-party data is crucial for effective decision-making. Even with a wealth of first-party data, it's important to be aware of any blind spots in your data and enrich those gaps with data partners rooted in offline connections.  “We appreciate the opportunity to participate in the supply-side think tank led by OpenX and Experian, two industry leaders in navigating a cookieless future. We're excited to collaborate with them on testing privacy sandbox APIs, identity resolution products, and audience development tools to enhance creator monetization and support an open internet amidst rapid technological and regulatory shifts.” Patrick McCann, SVP, Research, Raptive Lack of authenticated data and persistent IDs  The deprecation of third-party cookies means there will be a shortage of authenticated user data and persistent identifiers. Without this information, targeting and personalization become more challenging. Participants discussed the need to find alternative ways to gather and use personal data responsibly. It’s time to start evaluating data partners who have accurate, multi-source compiled, privacy-compliant data with the dedication to reach and recency. Fragmentation and scale with alternative IDs currently in the market  The multitude of alternative identifiers in the market poses a challenge for publishers. Each of these identifiers comes with its own set of rules and integration processes, leading to fragmentation and complexity. Publishers must find ways to navigate this landscape. Look to ID agnostic partners who provide a way to access multiple IDs at scale.   “The industry needs a more streamlined standard to integrate alternative IDs, given the ongoing challenges of third-party cookie deprecation, measurement, and clean rooms. This burden falls heavily on product and engineering teams, who must prioritize and address these issues one at a time.” Ryan Boh, Head of Identity, Lockr Time  Cookie deprecation is almost here. It is crucial to organize your legal, engineering, and product resources, and align internal go-to-market strategies. Establish partnerships that work with your team to follow these timelines and help build phased or cohesive strategies to prepare for a path to monetization. It is imperative to establish a sense of urgency and not wait for others to take the lead. Start testing now to determine if your infrastructure is ready and capable. Many partners who attended the think tank offered insights on how they’ve been tackling challenges to help their industry peers. Solutions and action plans for a cookieless future  Participants discussed ways they are starting to prepare for a cookieless future and other approaches on their roadmaps:  Work with data partners heavily rooted in offline data across the ecosystem  Enriching your first-party data with partners who rely on offline IDs can help bridge gaps in your audience knowledge. This approach allows you to build a more complete audience profile while third-party cookies are still operational.   Experian is rooted in deterministic offline data and has decades of experience managing it safely. We have insights on over 250 million U.S. consumers and 126 million U.S. households. With our digital technology assets, we bring in 4 billion devices and 1 trillion device signals to definitively connect offline records to online identifiers. With Experian identity widespread adoption throughout the industry, we're able to provide a common language for us all to collaborate. Experian identity organizes people into households, links their digital devices and IDs to them, enriches their identity with behavioral attributes, and then makes this data actionable in any environment, all while maintaining consumer privacy and data regulations. “Experian’s supply-side think tank provided a platform for publishers and AdTech companies to discuss the challenges posed by cookie deprecation, privacy regulation updates, and identity restrictions. It highlighted the need for AdTech companies to assist publishers in addressing anonymous users without requiring a value exchange — fostering a mutually beneficial and privacy-compliant open web solution.”Anthony Caccioppoli, Head of AdTech & Solutions, Insider Develop your own persistent ID  Creating and maintaining a proprietary persistent ID can be a valuable cookieless solution. It provides control and independence in the new environment post cookie, giving publishers the ability to maintain a consistent user profile.  Use your data to expand contextual targeting opportunities  Contextual targeting involves placing ads based on the content of the web page rather than user data. In the absence of cookies, this strategy can prove effective in reaching relevant audiences.  “The masking or deprecation of IP addresses will eventually impact the availability of addressable IDs in non-authenticated web environments. In addition to ensuring maximum resiliency of our Graph and increasing support for authentication-based IDs, we are also investing in research and development around the use of other signals, such as contextual data, to maintain behavioral targeting inside non-authenticated environments. We will be sharing our findings and future plans in this space in the coming months.”Budi Tanzi, VP, Product, Experian Facilitate a knowledge exchange  Reach out to your network to find out what others are testing and what’s working. Start collaborating with agencies and brands across the buy-side to meet their needs.  “The collaborative spirit displayed by our partners constantly inspires me. Listening to the obstacles our industry faces allows this community to build strong relationships, create action plans, and deliver true value.”Carly Allcorn, Account Executive, Publisher & Supply-Side Partnerships, Experian Invest in an identity graph  Invest in an identity graph provider to sync first-party cookies and addressable IDs. This ensures that your data remains accessible and actionable in a cookieless world.  “Many participants at our think tank with Experian expressed the need to find an identity solution while also exploring other ways they can start to address cookie deprecation while maintaining business as usual.” Callie Askenas, Director of Publisher Development, OpenX How Experian and OpenX can help  Graph from Experian captures all available digital identifiers in real-time and resolves them back to individuals and households. We’re signal agnostic, continuously expand the IDs we support, and futureproof identity resolution through a combination of deterministic, probabilistic, and cookieless identifiers.   Experian is a key player in OpenX’s OpenAudience solution and helps to power many of their data segments as well as their identity graph. While OpenX collaborates with a variety of providers and operates a fully interoperable platform, Experian remains valuable to the core technology within OpenX’s supply-side platform (SSP).  Experian can help you prepare for the cookieless future  It’s clear that the cookieless future poses some unique challenges for publishers, but there are solutions. Publishers and their supply-side partners can come up with strategies to target consumers in intentional ways by continually testing multiple identifiers and cookieless solutions, developing their own persistent ID, creating velvet rope content, and returning to contextual targeting. Collectively, these actionable strategies can help ensure that publishers have a more successful transition into a cookieless future.   Experian has been preparing for signal loss for quite some time and we continue to make substantial investments to ensure our resiliency and the resiliency of our customers. We continue to diversify our signal creating profiles with more persistent identifiers which allows us to pair authentication-based universal identifiers such as UID2 into our Graph seamlessly.   Experian is ready and we are here to navigate the future of privacy together.   To find out more about how Experian can help you prepare for the cookieless future, get in touch with a member of our team today.  Get ready for the cookieless future with Experian Latest posts

Nov 15,2023 by Hayley Schneider, Content Marketing Manager

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