While the TV and advertising industry understandably gets excited about the value of marquee sporting events as premier mass-reach vehicles, there is another way to play the game.

First, let’s state the obvious: It’s hard to quantify the ROAS (return on ad spend) of a $7 million Super Bowl commercial, including the business and cultural benefits of reaching 100+ million viewers across platforms in a single day. And of course most brands can’t afford that sort of single-unit media spend, not to mention the production costs of getting Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Tom Brady together to sell a $3 cup of coffee.

Even with March Madness — with more games and much more inventory — top brands shelled out tens of millions to gain similar reach in the three-week sprint. And with players like the record-setting NCAA star Caitlin Clark, whose historic efforts generated close to 20 million simultaneous viewers and helped drive 3-4 times the year-over-year viewership for the Women’s Final Four, there are major rewards for ponying up. In fact, for the first time in history the Women’s Final Four had more viewers than the Men’s Final Four!

While hundreds of brands continue to jump on the big sports bandwagon, there are thousands more that are finding a way to reach those same sports fans outside of the big tentpole format. Between the consumer shift to streaming TV and the massive investment from service providers, it’s now easier than ever for advertisers to reach highly engaged sports fans any time of the year. 

Getting in the Game

Sports appointment-viewing was once a domain owned by traditional TV, but the streaming players are getting in the arena in a major way, as services invest in both airing live games and engaging shoulder programming. With Amazon, Peacock, Apple and Netflix making investments in MLB, MLS, NFL, PGA and WWE, the streaming options for sports fans have never been greater.

The good news is the quality and volume of sports-related programming on streaming today also means it is easier than ever for advertisers to reach highly-engaged sports fans year-round. Contextual targeting around both the games and entertaining shoulder content for major events means even smaller local and regional advertisers can find affordable buys where bigger national brands typically dominate.

For instance, a local car dealership can geo-target ads during NFL Sunday Ticket games on YouTube TV, or a pet care brand can target ads against millennial pet owners in certain zip codes during a Boston Celtics home game on Max. The precision that streaming offers makes the experience more akin to what marketers do in digital — targeting the right audience in the right moment with measurement that demonstrates the business value. In many ways, the shift to streaming TV is leveling the playing field for marketers in the same way Facebook did for social ads or Google did for search ads when they launched their self-serve platforms. 

As digital TV continues to mature, there will be infinite avenues for advertisers to create the types of connections we all love about big-game advertising. Utilizing strategic targeting, local streaming placements and some data-driven savvy, small brands are just starting to tap into the power of the world's biggest sporting events — without the million-dollar price tag that comes with it.