Erika KauffmanOver the past two decades, the rapid growth of interest in all things NFL has laid the groundwork for fantasy football’s rise to prominence. Part of its newfound popularity comes from a greater understanding of football itself. Due to fantasy football, casual fans transform themselves into walking football encyclopedias or capable refs.

Fantasy play, however, was once seen as the exclusive domain of experts who had to be aware of every player in the league. It’s not easy keeping up with injuries, statistics, and trades. And it’s even harder to do all of the math required, but this changed with greater accessibility to player stats over the internet and on mobile devices. Like everything else, player info was now accessible anywhere by anyone. Fantasy football became democratic.

More importantly, it also became social. While there’s no doubt web access helped, it’s the people who powered the phenomenon. Fans don’t just keep up with their favorite running back, they reconnect with old friends and make new ones. Fantasy football is becoming a popular diversion between spouses as well. The experience brings people together over networks built to facilitate interaction.

Everybody’s getting drafted

According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, fans spend $15 billion on fantasy football annually. Their estimate is based on 32 million players spending an average of $468 per year. Although this information comes from an organization marketing the game, even half of those numbers should get the attention of marketers everywhere. More remarkably, the pastime is growing at an estimated rate of 10-15% a year. Finally, there’s something special about the people fueling the fantasy football phenomenon. The main demographic spending the most money on fantasy football are college-educated (mostly male) professionals with average household incomes over $90,000. This is the equivalent of marketing Nirvana. It’s enough to make a savvy marketing professional dance in the end zone.

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Equally conspicuous is that growth among mobile users account for approximately one-quarter of the current number of fantasy players. This has caused the sources running the games to pick up the pace in developing fantasy-themed apps. Within this subset the use of data to develop predictive models is one of the most popular categories amongst players.

However, marketers eyeing sponsorship opportunities should distinguish between leagues where customers pay to join and those that are free. The $468 that the FSTA mentioned is what 49% of players spend on joining fees, advisory information and apps that analyze football stats.

Who’s on the field

Three-quarters of the fantasy market comes from four sources: Yahoo, CBS Sports, ESPN and the NFL itself, with ESPN and Yahoo reportedly having more than five million players each. When it comes to finding the best marketing opportunities, it’s important to discover where the source’s emphasis lies in relation to the game.

For example, ESPN’s main concern is selling fantasy-related information through its many league analysts. Their media empire offers a wide array of marketing platforms, so it may take some digging to discover exactly where that emphasis can result in the best return on investment. Meanwhile, the NFL attempts to grab as many people as possible through the use of both free and pay versions, and CBS Sports requires leagues to pay close to $200 in order to compete (they also offer a free version).

Making a smart play

Over the past few years, companies like Toyota, Unilever, Volkswagen, Snickers, Verizon, Intel and Dodge have all jumped on the Fantasy Football sponsorship bandwagon in one way or another. In doing so they’ve gained a foothold in a market. While many sponsors note that there are no problems getting fans to fantasy football sites, the challenge lies in getting them to pay attention to associated marketing once they’re there. One solution is for campaigns to have an interactive component of some sort.

Last year, for example, Volkswagen designed custom responses from CBS Sports broadcasters via video that was part of an ad. Depending on how the player did, that broadcaster would cheer for or trash talk that week’s opponent.

Trying to connect to this market doesn’t necessarily require going directly to the source, however. There are countless media outlets with weekly fantasy football shows that offer indirect opportunities for companies to explore their marketing effectiveness and to see what particular strategies work best.

Engagement is key, and it will manifest itself through advertising or through effective use of a sponsor’s product that furthers the knowledge of a fantasy player. In short, there need to be relevant connections in order to monetize opportunities. If this mantra is ignored, the target consumer will ignore what the sponsors have to offer.

The end zone

Sunday Night Football is the top-ranked show on television, and the annual deals NFL broadcasting bring in collective billions. In other words, there’s not even a remote chance that interest in football is waning. The recent scandals that plagued it were messy, but there’s no indication that they affected the targeted market that continues to fuel fantasy football.

Baseball may still cling to its dated designation as America’s national pastime, but football forcefully asserts itself as America’s passion. Given the level of devotion it already inspires and its potential, fantasy football is an untapped channel for marketers. A smart play now may mean a huge payoff in the future. Both the NFL and fantasy leagues are continuing to grow, the traffic is present on sites and apps, and the only remaining challenge lies in creating the kind of relevance that engages consumers.

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Erika Kauffman is Executive Vice President and General Manager at 5W PR.