• by Tyler Loechner  @mp_tyler, November 21, 2013

As the fall marks the start of multiple sport seasons (NFL, NCAA Football, NBA) and the end of another (MLB), it's not too surprising to learn that targeting fantasy sports players, and general sport enthusiasts, becomes a bit more expensive by the time October rolls around.

Fantasy Sports was the third most expensive segment for digital advertisers in October, up from the 12th position it held it September. Pro Basketball was the 84th segment (up 63 spots from September), and Baseball was the 61st most expensive (up 11 spots from September).

The data comes from ChoiceStream, which has released its Audience Cost Calendar for November (which looks at data from October). The company tracks and finds the relative cost of buying impressions on programmatic exchanges.

In addition to the rising cost of reaching fantasy players and sport enthusiasts, ChoiceStream has also revealed that the price of all Food & Drink segments -- including "General," "Food & Beverage," "Recipes," "Wine," and Dining Out" -- are one the rise. However, even though each one of those segments is becoming more expensive to trade in relative to other segments, they mostly all remain in the lower half of the index as a whole.

The company noted that the Holidays & Events: Giving Gifts Holidays segment got expensive early this year. It rose 119 spots on the index to 185th overall. This mean it was ranked 304th in September in terms of relative cost. To put that in perspective, there are only 312 segment ranked each month. This segment ranked number one in November of 2012.

“Holidays and Events: Gift Giving Holidays is always the one to watch at this time of year,” stated Bill Guild, VP marketing at ChoiceStream. “It is interesting because this category traditionally moves to the top of the index during this time of year, yet it is one of those segments that fluctuates greatly throughout the year. This segment ranges from a rank of 300, which it hit in August, to a rank of 1, which it reached in November last year. This year’s climb started in October rising to rank 185, and we look for it to continue climbing into the top ten for November.”