Media Edge: Fox Sports launches new campaigns
Media Sales Lead: Fox Sports just launched a "massive" ad campaign for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup featuring the US Women's National Team (USWNT). With the exclusive TV rights for the July-August event, Fox Sports will invest in several experiential activations nationwide. It features influencers such as USWNT star and captain Alex Morgan, who makes an appearance as a real-life Statue of Liberty that will tour the country. The statue will also support a larger, fully integrated OOH campaign across billboards, digital, print, and full billboards of the statue in NY, LA, Seattle, and Dallas.
A separate OOH campaign will star five USWNT players. This campaign will also include OOH, digital, and print content.
Finally, Fox Sports will add to its 90-second "USA vs. The World" campaign with work featuring Morgan along with Megan Rapinoe, Rose Lavelle, Naomi Girma, and Crystal Dunn. This spot will be narrowed down into smaller spots that will run across all Fox markets. The campaign will run heavily for the next four weeks, and Fox News will debut regional spots across its 212 TV stations.
Fox Sports has been ramping up not only its experiential activations but also its brand partnerships. Recently, it has teamed up with brands such as Crayola and Frito-Lay.
Key Lead Takeaways: Get in touch soon to secure some of Fox Sport's increasing ad dollars
Target Demographics: Fox Sports typically targets male Gen-X and boomers, but since digital spend is increasing so much, it seems to be widening its target demographic to also include younger men such as Gen-Z and millennials. However, this new campaign is geared toward empowering (and therefore targeting) women.
Key Spend Notes:
- Spend shift summary: Both national TV and digital spend are on the rise, but the latter is skyrocketing.
- Planning period: Q1
- Buying period: Q4
National Broadcast Analysis & Spend Breakdown:
*Note that iSpot categorizes Fox Sports under Life & Entertainment: TV Networks*
- 2023 YTD Spend: $1.2m
- STP 2022 Spend: $896.9k
- 2022 FY Spend: $1.7m
- 2021 FY Spend: $1.9m
- 2020 FY Spend: $1.7m
YTD YOY Spend Increase: 34%
Ad Flight Breakdown (by spend): So far this year, Fox Sports has aired 70 national TV spots; its top five are the "NASCAR Cup Series," "The Herd," "College Basketball," "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed," and "CONCACAF Champions League."
Top Daypart (by impressions): Weekend Afternoon (379.5m)
Top Networks (by spend): Fox Sports 1, FOX, FOX Sports 2, Fox News, and USA Network
Top Shows (by spend): NASCAR Race Rewind, NASCAR Cup Series, the 2023 NFL Draft, NASCAR Xfinity Racing Series, and College Basketball.
Top Industry/Vertical Spenders (YTD, by spend): FOX (14.7%), ABC (12.2%), Bally Sports (7.9%), NBC (6.6%), and CBS (3.9%)
Digital Display & Social Media Spend Analysis & Breakdown:
*Note that Pathmatics categorizes Fox Sports under Media*
- 2023 YTD Spend: $8.2m
- STP 2022 Spend: $1.6m
- 2022 FY Spend: $8.8m
- 2021 FY Spend: $7.5m
- 2020 FY Spend: $9.1m
YTD YOY Spend Increase: 413%
YTD Ad Flight Breakdown:
- Q2-Q3 2023 Spend (to date): $3.9m
- Q1 2023 Spend: $4.3m
- Q1 2022 Spend: $384k
- Q2 2022 Spend: $1.1m
- Q3 2022 Spend: $2.4m
- Q4 2022 Spend: $5m
YTD Impressions: 1.1b
Top Ad Types: Facebook (34%), digital display (30%), and Instagram (22%)
Top Purchase Channels: Direct (98%)
Top Publishers: foxnews.com (34%), Facebook (34%), and Instagram (22%)
Top Industry/Vertical Spenders (YTD, by spend): HBO, NBC Universal, Amazon.com, About, Starz, ESPN, and the WSJ
Top Creative by Spend; see below: (note that not all creatives debuted in 2023).
Other Media Spend Analysis & Breakdown:
Vivvix: Google Ads along with OOH, digital, local broadcast, print (newspapers), radio, Twitter, and online video (primarily via Youtube.com and Youtube IOS) ads
Social Demographics: Men from the ages of 35-54
2022-2023 Key Hires:
- Sam Grill - Associate director, sports brand partnerships (November 2022)
Current Agency Roster:
- In-House: Media
- Wieden + Kennedy: Creative AOR
- Mediahub LA: Media AOR
Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix; audience insights by StatSocial.
