The Super Bowl is one of the most-watched events in Canada. Last year, Bell Media – the exclusive Canadian broadcaster of the Big Game – reported that 19 million unique Canadian viewers (or nearly 50% of Canada’s population) watched some or all of the NFL game on TSN, CTV and RDS. It was the most watched broadcast of the 2023/24 season in Canada, according to the company.
Obviously, its popularity creates a huge opportunity for advertising, particularly on Connected TV (CTV). According to a recent report conducted by LG Ad Solutions, CTV usage for live sports in the country is rising, with 68% of CTV viewers saying they pay attention to commercials during live sports broadcasts. The report also found that viewers are most interested in entertainment ads, followed by spots about restaurants, beverages, travel, and electronics.
With more Canadians going to CTV to watch sporting events like the Super Bowl, Deidra Dionne, VP of DAZN Canada, tells MiC that the streamer has been updated to attract more subscribers and improve the viewing experience. The platform has been improving product discoverability to better showcase content and key moments, plus it has introduced new tools that allow users to watch NFL games from the beginning, and avoid spoilers. It has also created FanZone, an interactive experience where users can interact with other viewers during games.
“With the launch of FanZone, NFL games, including the Super Bowl, become interactive fan experiences providing a highly engaged and dynamic global user base that can be segmented and localized for brand integrations,” Dionne says. She adds that for this year’s Super Bowl coverage, several NFL partners have acquired ad space on the platform, including OLG, the presenting partner of the live pre-Super Bowl show which will be distributed by DAZN and will be available on YouTube.
This Thursday, Bell Media also announced the advertising partners that will showcase their creative this year. Among them is Expedia, which is returning as a partner, as well as Manmade, No Frills, Osmow’s Shawarma, Felix Health, Fidelity Investments Canada, Molson, Skip, M&M’S, adidas, Toyota and Intuit Turbo Tax. FanDuel is also returning as a Super Bowl LIX panel sponsor.
The company also announced that TSN’s coverage this year is led by Super Bowl LIX panel hosts James Duthie and Kara Wagland, along with soccer analysts Davis Sanchez and Luke Willson. The team will be delivering updates throughout the week, including on game day. SC at the Super Bowl will also offer analysis and reports, while TSN’s news program Sportscentre will have breaking news every day. On YouTube, TSN’s Broken Table show will cover all angles of sports betting surrounding the game, and Digital Sportscentre will highlight the latest prop bets for the game leading up to kickoff.
On Sunday, the game will air on TSN, TSN.ca and the TSN app, with additional coverage on CTV, CTV.ca and the CTV app. Bell will also offer live radio coverage on TSN radio stations (TSN 690 Montreal, TSN 1200 Ottawa and TSN 1050 Toronto).
Increasing of female audiences and multichannel approach
Super Bowl’s popularity not only represents a good opportunity on CTV, but also among female audiences, who are increasingly interested in sporting events. The LG Ad Solutions study shows that Canadian women are watching a variety of sports, with hockey topping the list. The number of women watching hockey has also increased 17% year- over-year, according to the report.
“While female audiences remain considerably lower than the male viewership, there was a 25% increase in Google searches for Super Bowl last year than the previous 4 year average, a Taylor Swift effect perhaps?,” Andrew Butts, general manager at Cossette Media, tells MiC.
For Butts, with more female viewers, successful ads might combine sports and pop culture, allowing companies to engage through diverse and relevant stories. “Bring the funny: over half of all female segments rate funny ads as their top choice for the type of ad most likely to capture their attention, according to Vividata,” he says.
And although CTV is growing in popularity, Butts points out that a multichannel approach has proven to be very effective in recent years and could work to engage women and men alike. “From a traditional Super Bowl standpoint, [TV and streaming] tends to be the starting point and is absolutely still appropriate. But that is not the only option. Many advertisers have found creative and effective ways to be around the Super Bowl without the heavy price tag of an in-game spot. Experiential, influencers and social media are just a few avenues to find interesting ways to surround a Super Bowl experience,” he says. “Likewise, these are great extensions of the broadcast and streaming options if that is part of your plan.”
Butts notes that for one recent client, the agency saw performance improve by over 20% when moving from three channels to four or five channels, with similar total investment. Ha adds that given the power of local icons to forge deeper connections with audiences, influencers should play a major role, especially if advertisers aim to attract younger Super Bowl viewers.
