Fox is adding Thursday Night Football this season and is looking to create innovative forms of advertising that are more engaging and less interruptive.
The new NFL ad format would appear when a whistle blows. Instead of going to a promo, Fox will go directly to a commercial. A branded animation will tie the game to the commercial. In one example a soda can would appear and “swipe” from the game into the spot. Or the ad could appear at the end of a break, and go directly in to the game, with the promo moved inside the pod.
The idea is to catch fans while they are still attentive, rather than having a promo signal that it’s time to make a sandwich or check the score on another game.
Last season Fox was among the first television networks to deploy six second spots. They would appear during short breaks in the action, rather than being included in longer pods during official time outs or between quarters.
Fox and other networks also employed picture-in-picture ads that showed viewers a commercial while still allowing them to see what’s happening in the stadium. The idea with both ad formats is to keep viewers engaged.
Lafayette, J. (2018, May 10). Fox Taking NFL Sponsors “Closer to the Action.” Broadcasting & Cable.