
The stakes are high when it comes to advertising during football’s biggest games as the cost of advertising continues to rise, with the average 30-second TV ad during the 2023-24 Sunday Night Football season priced at $882K. With record viewership at the College Football Playoff and the Super Bowl drawing in 123.7 million average viewers, the largest TV audience on record, it’s no surprise that brands are willing to pay those prices since football games are prime time for reaching engaged audiences. In fact, an estimated 51% of viewers search for an ad they saw during the game, underscoring the potential of second-screen engagement to amplify campaign impact. Whether you advertise on TV during these games or not, brands are exploring how they can use football season to drive a deeper connection to their audience. To do this, brands need data driven strategies.
In this blog post, we’ll reveal audience segments designed for you to craft tailored marketing strategies that resonate with football fans in the stands and on the couch. You can find the complete audience segment name in the appendix.
Make a game-winning play with Experian Audiences
With playoff season fast approaching, it’s the perfect time to go on the offensive and target football fans. Utilize Experian’s syndicated audiences to ensure your marketing messages resonate with fans when they’re the most engaged.
- Experian’s 2,400+ syndicated audiences are available directly on over 30 leading television, social, and programmatic advertising platforms.
- Reach consumers based on who they are, where they live, and what they do using data ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset.
- Run omnichannel campaigns based on a reliable understanding of households, people, digital identifiers, and marketing attributes.
Four football audience categories to add to your advertising lineup
Football fans come in all shapes, sizes, and viewing habits. From dedicated supporters to casual viewers, targeting the right audience can make or break your campaign.
Here are four football audience categories you can target:
- Sports enthusiasts
- College football fans
- 21+ audiences
- TV viewers
Let’s huddle up and break down the audience segments within each category. Whether it’s tailgating, tuning in, or cheering from the stands, these insights will get your campaign into the end zone.
Sports enthusiasts

Whether they’re following their favorite teams, attending games in person, or watching professional sports events on TV, football fans are deeply engaged, making them an ideal target for advertisers looking to score big.
Here are five audiences to target:
- NFL Enthusiasts
- Football (FLA/Fair Lending Friendly)1
- Sports Enthusiasts
- NFL Stadium Visitors
- Professionals Sports Event
College football fans

College football fans bring unmatched passion and loyalty, with bowl games during the 2023 season drawing on average of 4.6 million viewers across 40 total games—a 5% increase year-over-year. From students to alumni, these fans represent an invaluable opportunity for advertisers to connect with a deeply invested audience.
Here are four audiences to target to connect with passionate college football fans:
- College Football Stadium Visitors
- College Football Bowls
- College Students
- College Sports Venues
21+ audiences

With 84% of U.S adults reporting that they drink alcohol while watching football on TV, targeting 21+ audiences during game season is a winning play. Whether they’re cracking open a cold one at a tailgate, hosting a game-day party, or relaxing on the couch, these audiences represent a key audience for brands looking to tap into football culture.
Here are four audiences that you can target this post season:
- Imported Light Beer Enthusiasts
- Domestic/Imported Beer
- High-end Spirit Drinkers
- Discretionary spend: Alcohol and wine $331 – $726
These audiences can help you serve up campaigns that pour directly into the heart of football fandom.
TV viewers

Football games attract some of the most engaged and diverse TV audiences, with 85% of sports fans preferring to watch live sports on TV rather than in-person. Notably, for the first time, viewers aged 18 to 49 spent the majority of their sports viewing time (54%) via streaming. This shift highlights the immense opportunity for advertisers to connect with highly attentive viewers tuned into every play.
Here are seven audiences that you can use to create a game-winning strategy to reach engaged TV watching football fans:
- Cable Satellite or Streaming Network Subscribers
- Streaming Video: High Spenders
- Cord Cutters
- Cable and Streaming TV Service Subscribers
- Paid TV High Spenders
- Screen Size – Large
- Co-Watchers
Whether they’re catching the action on a large TV screen or streaming from their phone, these audiences will help you craft campaigns that deliver results with highly engaged viewers.
Score big with Experian this postseason
As some of football’s biggest games approach, it’s time to huddle up and connect with consumers who live for the thrill of the game.Whether they’re tuning in to cheer for their favorite teams, tailgating with friends, or enjoying the game-day experience from home, Experian Marketing Data provides the playbook to score big with targeting, enrichment, and activation. With Experian’s data-driven insights, you can turn every opportunity into a game-winning play!
You can activate our syndicated audiences on-the-shelf of most major platforms. For a full list of Experian’s syndicated audiences and activation destinations, download our syndicated audiences guide.
Explore our other seasonal audiences that you can activate today.
1 “Fair Lending Friendly” indicates data fields that Experian has made available without use of certain demographic attributes that may increase the likelihood of discriminatory practices prohibited by the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) and Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”). These excluded attributes include, but may not be limited to, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, disability, handicap, family status, ancestry, sexual orientation, unfavorable military discharge, and gender. Experian’s provision of Fair Lending Friendly indicators does not constitute legal advice or otherwise assures your compliance with the FHA, ECOA, or any other applicable laws. Clients should seek legal advice with respect to your use of data in connection with lending decisions or application and compliance with applicable laws.
Appendix
Sports enthusiasts
- Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Activities and Entertainment > NFL Enthusiasts
- Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Sports and Recreation > Sports Enthusiast
- Mobile Location Models > Visits > NFL Stadium Visitors
- Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Sports > Football (FLA / Fair Lending Friendly)2 Travel Intent > Activities > Professional Sports Event
College sports fans
- Mobile Location Models > Visits > University Stadium College Football Visitor
- Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Sports > College Football Bowls
- Mobile Location Models > Visits > College Students
- Mobile Location Models > Visits > College Sport Venues
21+ audiences
- Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Activities and Entertainment > Imported Light Beer Enthusiasts
- Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > In-Market > Domestic/Imported Beer
- Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Retail > High-end Spirit Drinkers
- Financial – Analytics IQ > Discretionary Spend > Alcohol and Wine: $331-$726
TV viewers
- Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Cable Satellite or Streaming Network Subscribers
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Entertainment > Streaming/Video/Audio/CTV/Cable TV: Streaming Video: High Spenders
- Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Cord Cutters
- Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Cable and Streaming Service Subscribers
- Television (TV) > TV Enthusiasts > Paid TV High Spenders
- Television (TV) > Viewing Device Type > Screen Size – Large
- Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Co-Watchers
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To our valued customers and partners,It’s been an exciting week here at Tapad! As announced in a press release this morning, Tapad is now a member of the Experian family. We’re thrilled to continue to grow as a leader in identity resolution under the umbrella of a global expert in data, analytics and technology. Tapad and Experian are deeply connected by our commitment to serving the needs of our customers; and with a focus on quality of the data we provide, we have a common goal for the future of identity in the advertising ecosystem. As part of this announcement, we wanted to assure you, our valued customer, that we remain deeply committed to serving you today just as we always have. Nothing will change in your daily operations with Tapad. Experian immediately recognized that the success and growth of Tapad was directly tied to the strength and depth of its team members. As such, the acquisition will not result in any changes to day-to-day contacts at Tapad, or processes with weekly graph deliveries and other product support. Experian’s faith and investment in Tapad’s future and the future of identity resolution underscores what we’ve always believed our products could achieve and that we will be able to continue serving brands, advertisers, publishers, and the advertising and marketing ecosystem for years to come. On a personal note, I am excited to be transitioning my role as Chief Operating Officer of Tapad to the General Manager position of a global business that’s achieved exponential growth over the past several years; culminating in this strategic acquisition that will no doubt bring even more value to our customers in the future. We remain committed to open communication and welcome any questions you may have. Thank you, Mark Connon | General Manager, Tapad

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Addressable TV has been through a transformation in the past year. Streaming content has become the most coveted space for creators and advertisers with the rise of new apps and platforms; but the influx of stay-at-home orders around the country have shifted television viewership as we know it, and streaming apps are popping up in droves to take advantage. So, how can you? With no shortage of opportunities to advertise on addressable TV and CTV, how does it fit into the media mix? And furthermore, how can you attribute this household-level device into your overall strategy? Tying it all together Layering addressable TV within digital ad campaigns couldn’t be easier today — but applying the right targeting and cadence between all of your digital efforts; and tying them together in attribution takes the right kind of data. Marketers can use CTV identifiers coupled with other device identifiers available in The Tapad Graph to not only target impressions but also map addressable TVs within the consumer journey; and unify strategies between household decision makers to better personalize messaging. Let's get to work, together At Tapad, we provide actionable insights for marketers to deliver better ad experiences to their consumers through identity resolution. Interested in learning more? Contact us today at sales@tapad.com for a more personal conversation about your identity strategy. 1 The Trade Desk Q2 2020 Earnings Call Transcript, August 2020; 2 iSpot Report, via Deadline, July 2020; 3 Flixed.io, January 2020

For the past several years ad-tech defined the value of identity at the individual level; made possible by the evolution of data, technology and machine-learning. But, earlier this year COVID-19 set in motion many shifts in consumer digital behavior. The more we’ve been working and learning from home, using devices that are shared amongst an entire household, the more apparent it is that marketers need to shift their strategies to align with these changes. Did you know the average household owns eleven or more connected devices? And the longer we’ve been at home, the more these devices are shared by multiple individuals. If you’re looking for a few simple ways to evolve from an individual focused strategy to a household strategy, here’s a good place to start: Audience segmentation Traditionally, audiences are built with a narrow focus on a single user, and what known attributes about that individual or their brand engagement can be leveraged for a targeting strategy. Now that screens are being shared between multiple users in a home, how can you be sure you’re identifying them correctly, and thus, segmenting them in the right buckets for targeting? The key lies in the ability to connect those points through identity resolution. Using ad exposure from household level devices, followed by a second engagement from an individual within that household can indicate a user is a better candidate for purchase or conversion than others. So before you build audiences for targeting, you can qualify them at the household level for segmentation with more confidence. Example: An auto advertiser uses audience segments from a third party provider such as ‘auto intenders’ to target individuals with new pricing offers. They would continue retargeting these users, unaware that some are connected in the same household, and thus are probably not all in the market to actually get a new car. By bucketing users that share a common household device within this third party segment, they can hone in on which individuals are actually in-market for a car and evolve their strategy to be more effective. Targeting Retargeting, frequency capping and sequential messaging have always been meant for an individual user — the more they’re exposed to your brand in a personalized way, the more likely they are to take the desired action. But, have you considered that multiple users could have a shared initial exposure to your brand? Today, you can target a household of potential consumers on a shared device like a CTV, and employ those retargeting strategies based on that common initial exposure. Starting at the household level, means you can compare movement through the funnel between different individuals in that household, and tailor your targeting accordingly. Perhaps you realize only one person in that household will convert and you tailor messaging to them more frequently, while confidently suppressing the other individuals. Example: a CPG brand uses OTT advertising, but doesn’t incorporate it within their sequential strategy, because they consider it just a ‘brand awareness’ opportunity. By using OTT more strategically as a household level engagement, it can reveal which individuals within a household are more favorable towards a brand further down the funnel. So, you can spend impressions targeting those users, rather than wasting impressions on multiple individuals within the household. Measurement Measurement and attribution are imperative to understanding the path to purchase and making strategies more efficient over time. Often that efficiency involves adding or removing devices and channels from a targeting strategy based on their contribution to an action or conversion by an individual. This year we’re seeing addressable TV devices explode in use, which are shared at the household level. Even desktop computers are being used by more people in the home due to COVID-19. So, assuming a linear path of attribution by an individual is missing the full picture. Identity resolution can help you understand where messaging was more effective for some users in the household than others, and leverage that insight to continue more effective strategies in the future. Example: Without a household view, a direct-to-consumer brand would assume all interactions from one device would be coming from a single individual, and that could create a higher cost-per analysis. By incorporating the household level devices into attribution models, they can find efficiencies between touch points of multiple users, and learn how those split off into individual paths to conversion. Not only can this DTC create a more effective model, but they can use that model to create cost efficiencies in the future. Get started with The Tapad Graph For personalized consultation on the value and benefits of The Tapad Graph for your business, email Sales@tapad.com today!