The 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris offered a powerful reminder of the cultural importance of live sports. Millions around the world tuned in to watch athletes compete at the highest level, reveling in their tenacity and triumph. For advertisers, there are similar opportunities to reach engaged sports audiences programmatically.
Media buyers using The Trade Desk have witnessed firsthand how powerful the Olympics can be for consumers and brands alike. Olympic viewership on NBC’s Peacock was up an estimated 500% (compared to the Tokyo Games in ’21), and brand messages aired during the ’24 Summer Games were found to be 150% more memorable than broadcast prime-time norms.¹
When it comes to live sports in general, 65% of Americans are expected to watch them on Connected TV (CTV) in 2024 — a triple increase compared to just a few years ago, when linear TV hosted the lion’s share of live sports viewership.¹
Read on for insights on the live sports landscape in CTV and how you can aim to make the most of this opportunity.
Sports fans are big streamers
Many streaming apps have succeeded in drawing large sports audiences, as shown by NBCUniversal-owned Peacock. Even before the Olympics, 31% of CTV users were streaming sports on Peacock,² a number that has spiked during the global Games. Other leaders include Fox’s Tubi and ESPN+, which have secured more and more sports streaming rights over time.
Marketers have taken notice, as highlighted in What Advertisers See in CTV, our 2024 CTV report. The majority of live sports advertisers rank the genre as brand-safe and effective at reaching their target audience.³ Nine out of 10 advertisers plan to increase or maintain CTV live sports budgets in 2024, citing the advanced targeting capabilities in CTV as a key reason for doing so, among other key benefits.
Restaurant brand finds new audiences during the American football season
A campaign for a leading restaurant chain shows how advertising during live sports inventory can help brands find new audiences, raise awareness and improve ROAS.
A leading restaurant chain wanted to reach its target audience — football fans — when they were most likely to order food through their mobile devices. To accomplish this, it worked with agency Happy Cog and programmatic specialist Klever Programmatic to serve highly relevant ads during livestreams throughout the American football season.
They tapped into The Trade Desk’s extensive marketplace with the goal of ensuring the restaurant chain’s ads reached fans during live football broadcasts. The results speak for themselves.
The campaign’s return on ad spend was 366%, 22% above the agency’s 300% ROAS benchmark. Meanwhile, mobile transactions increased by 9% and desktop transactions by 7.5%, compared to campaigns with no CTV element. Plus, the campaign delivered a 15% lift in brand awareness.
Where programmatic can help
With broader adoption of sports viewing on CTV, reaching fans programmatically presents a growing opportunity for brands. Historically, live sports have been transacted via private marketplace deals, but the open marketplace is gaining steam on CTV. Forty percent of marketers say they will increase open marketplace spending for sports on CTV in ’24, compared with 22% who said they would do so in ’23.⁴
![[Download chart]](https://www.thetradedesk.com/assets/global/rd_livesports_datavis1_desktop-1.png){kind=link}
It can be a challenge for media buyers to know where audiences are engaging with live sports. For example, certain games and matches have larger viewership. Our platform addresses this challenge by offering agile pacing so you can bid more effectively in a fluctuating viewing environment. Now, your campaigns don’t have to miss out on surges in viewership, and you can bid more nimbly during peak moments.
A new high bar for sports streaming
The 2024 Paris Olympics exemplified the profound cultural importance of live sports around the world. And fans’ growing preference for CTV enables far more advertising precision than has ever been possible in linear TV. By using programmatic tools to align with live sports experiences, marketers can connect with these audiences during thrilling moments.
Contact us learn more about how The Trade Desk can support your live sports campaigns.
Sources:
1. All Olympics viewership, performance, and impact data and results provided by NBCUniversal and Peacock.
2. LG Ad Solutions, USA, January 2024 study. From Stadium to Screen: Streaming Live Sports in 2024.
3. The Trade Desk and Advertiser Perceptions, study, November 2023.
4. The Trade Desk Intelligence x YouGov Consumer CTV Study, November 2023 Base: (1) Total CTV Advertisers (n=150); (2) CTV Live Sports Advertisers (n=81)
This information is provided solely for background and is not a representation or guarantee of any future performance.