When the 2006 National Football League season kicks off next month, viewers might notice something a little different during the broadcast. The league will add sponsored vignettes during game broadcasts throughout the upcoming season, according to USA Today.
The vignettes will be in 30- or 15-second increments, but will not tout the sponsor’s products or services. Instead, they will zero in on highlights of the game and NFL players, USA Today said. The season begins Sept. 7.
FedEx, IBM and EA Sports will participate in the league’s new offering. Sponsors will pay the NFL about the same amount for TV spots, Peter Murray, NFL VP-partnership marketing told USA Today. The league hopes to attract 20 sponsors to the new initiative.
The NFL’s move comes at a time when marketers try to find ways to catch consumers’ ever-elusive eyes. The phenomenal growth of TiVo and other digital video recording devices that let consumers skip past commercials have companies seeking alternatives.
But what’s old is new again. The NFL once carried companies’ messages interspersed during its games, an action it ended in 1997 fearing broadcasts were becoming too commercialized, USA Today reported.
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