College Football Playoff expansion boosts ESPN, Disney

The expanded College Football Playoff format has changed the game for media companies this season — and for Disney in particular.

This season marks the first of the 12-team College Football Playoff format, meaning fans of more teams than ever have more skin in the game. As a result, Disney’s TV networks that air college football — including ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 — are on pace for their most-watched season since 2016, according to the company.

This has translated to more viewership engagement with the commercials aired during the games, according to EDO, an advertising data company. That’s expected to continue through this Thanksgiving weekend, a busy stretch on the college football calendar that’s chock full of rivalries and will shape playoff seeding and the upcoming Bowl games.

During the 14th and final weekend of the season, longstanding rivals such as Ohio State and Michigan, and Texas and Texas A&M will take the field.

“We have higher hopes, I think, and higher expectations for this coming weekend because of that change in format,” Kevin Krim, CEO of EDO, said of ad engagement on Disney’s networks. “The significance of these games matters, in our experience, in the data.”

In 2022, the university presidents who oversee the College Football Playoff voted to expand the postseason system that determines the national champion from four to 12 teams. The change has not only offered Disney more games on its schedule, but also increased the intrigue around the games earlier in the season.

“College football is a key cog in our portfolio, not only the sports portfolio but also our Disney platform portfolio. From an ad sales standpoint and content standpoint, we’ve had unbelievable success,” said Jim Minnich, senior vice president of Disney advertising revenue and yield management, noting “record breaking viewership across the company’s platforms.”

ABC in particular is on track to have its best season for college football ratings since 2009. The company said 12 of the 15 most-watched games were on the broadcast network this season.

Consumers were 11% more likely to engage with ads during college football games this season on Disney networks through week 10 compared with the competitive broadcast and cable prime-time average, according to EDO. That means people were more likely to search for products and offerings they saw on the commercial breaks, making those slots more valuable to advertisers.

In particular, the ad performance during the Thanksgiving weekend slew of games on Disney’s networks is expected to surge again this year, after an already strong 2023, EDO estimates. The firm reported that the ads during Disney’s games were 93% more effective last year than the programming happening in the same time slot on other networks — which also amounted to a 39% year-over-year increase.

Some of the brands that see particularly strong consumer engagement during college football games on Disney’s channels are consumer packaged goods brands such as Jimmy Dean and Just for Men; restaurants such as Popeyes; and pharmaceutical products such as AbbVie’s Skyrizi, according to EDO.

These are notable metrics as the media industry faces significant turmoil. Consumers are fleeing the pay-TV bundle, and changes media companies have made in recent years — particularly a shift in resources to streaming platforms — are more in focus than ever. Companies are leaning more than ever on advertising, too.

Disney has already seen “significant demand on renewals” for its College Football Playoff partners, with some wanting to renew early for 2027 and beyond, Minnich said.

“There’s a renewed interest earlier than ever,” Minnich said, adding that it’s driven by both the College Football Playoff and sports more broadly.

On the advertising front, Disney is sold out of its spots through the conference championship games. It has also sold about 90% to 95% of ads for the College Football Playoff games.

“We’re actually more well sold in the championship game than we have been in years past,” Minnich said. “We’re ahead of pace than we were last year, and that includes the growth that was projected for CFP.”

Live sports has remained the last bastion of solid ratings for TV networks. The National Football League is often the leader in viewership and advertising, with college football as a close second. Even as the advertising market has softened in recent years, advertisers have continued to spend on sports.

“Football is generally the most expensive thing on TV because it generates larger audiences who are more engaged with both the program and the ad breaks than anything else on TV. The NFL is the absolute pinnacle of the mountain of value, but right behind it is college football,” said Krim.

In response, media rights for sports have ballooned across the board.

Disney being the home of all Southeastern Conference football games has been a boon to advertising demand, too. The media company is reportedly paying around $300 million annually for SEC rights over the next 10 years.

ESPN and the College Football Playoff announced in March that they had agreed to a six-year $7.8 billion contract through the 2031-32 season. Shortly after, Warner Bros. Discovery signed a five-year sublicensing deal with ESPN to broadcast first-round and quarterfinal College Football Playoff games.

College football also plays a big role for Disney’s competitors, including Paramount’s CBS Sports, Fox Corp., and Comcast’s NBC Sports.

Krim said college football is more effective than average programming across all of the networks that show the games.

Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.