Marketers looking to reach sports fans could boost ROI by running campaigns on just DirecTV and Dish Network in lieu of national buys. Nielsen data shows that ratings for sports programming are
notably higher in satellite homes than the rest of the country.
On average, DBS homes scored 8% greater ratings for network sports events in 2009 than the 70% of homes without a satellite
feed.
The results are not a complete surprise, given that much of DirecTV's brand equity is tied up in being a sports bar on-screen. It continues to spend handsomely to maintain exclusivity for
the "NFL Sunday Ticket" package.
DirecTV and Dish each have about two minutes an hour to run ads on channels such as ESPN, so ad buys in those slots could bring attractive targeting.
Separately, Nielsen said homes with high-def TVs tend to have more rabid sports consumption than homes without them. That's good news for networks counting on HD to bolster traditional sports viewing
for years to come.
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Unlike other programming that does well on the Internet, sports with HD may be an experience that far exceeds what the Web offers.
Nielsen said homes with HDTVs posted 21%
higher ratings for sports in 2009 than households with the standard-definition sets. As of May, about 33% of homes had HDTV sets.
Another figure shows that sports consumption is solid: Even as TV
ratings rose, 88 million-plus Americans visited a sports Web site in October, up 19% compared to the year before.