Sporting Goods Opps: Big 5 Sporting Goods cuts back on print ads

Big 5 Sporting Goods (Big 5) had an excellent year in 2020 seeing fourth quarter sales jump from $244m in 2019 to $290m, per its Q4 2020 earnings report. This was mainly a result of an increased interest in home gym equipment, golf, tennis, hiking, camping and fishing products, due to the coronavirus pandemic pushing consumers outside. The company reduced selling and administrative expenses by $1m in Q4. Execs said this was mainly because it cut print advertising significantly. 

According to Pathmatics,Big 5 earned 61m impressions in 2020 through Facebook ads (63%), desktop display ads (17%), mobile display ads (12%) and desktop video ads (8%). It placed the majority (84%) of these ads site direct onto sites such as facebook.com, youtube.com, pe.com, ocregister.com and univision.com. It placed the remainder (26%) through a variety of indirect channels onto sites such as dictionary.com, perezhilton.com, dailymail.co.uk, yourdailydish.com and yahoo.com. It spent around $8.5k on digital display ads YTD, just 3% of the $258.2k spent in this channel during the same time period of 2020. Full-year spend equaled $404.2k in 2020, a 71% decrease from $691k spent in 2019. 

Sellers-- Big 5's products most likely appeal to active millennials and Gen-Zers. Traditionally, this company allocated the majority of its ad budget towards print ads. It also invests in OOH ads, per Kantar. There may still be print ad opportunities for sellers, just on a more limited basis. It also has been decreasing digital spend as well for the past couple of years. However, despite the decrease in digital spend, I still believe this channel provides the best chance of you securing ad revenue.  

Agency & martech readers-- Big 5 works with creative agency IMM, with an in-house media team. I see no signs indicating this company is preparing to review its agency roster. You will likely have better luck looking for other opportunities.