Like a group of weary hikers gathering around a campfire, Americans embraced the warm glow of NFL football in 2021 like never before. The crowds and sizzle were back. There was enough hot, delicious controversy to keep us all shaking our heads in disbelief. It was enough to warm the collective souls of America and distract us from a cold, sterile period of Covid seclusion.
But with the audience growth comes significant increases in ad costs. And NFL football was already priced at a premium, charging multiples of what most personal injury law firms pay for ads in regular programming. Is it worth paying the premium?
For most law firms, the answer is NO. Most personal injury law firms are advertising in highly competitive markets. The majority are badly outspent by the market’s leading law firm advertiser and don’t have the ad frequency to break through the clutter. Any available funds should be deployed to become more competitive in basic dayparts, Early Morning, Daytime, Early Fringe, Early News and weekends. Remember, the cost per rating point and cost per spot for Sports programming is multiples higher than normal programming. And NFL ads take the sports premium cost to a whole other level.
One tactic we use at BDAA to circumvent NFL premium pricing is buying low cost rotators on Weekends and in Prime. Our clients ads often end up in NFL games and other sports premium events at a fraction of the cost. One BDAA law firm client recently ran in the World Series for $150. The station was asking $40,000 per spot.