Foxtel Media has announced that 19 brands have signed on as sponsors for the 2023 AFL season.
AAMI, Chemist Warehouse, Coles, Ford, Harvey Norman, Hostplus, Industry Super Funds, KFC, McCain, McDonald’s, NAB, Sportsbet, Telstra, Toyota, and Xero are the 2023 season match day returning sponsors, with Bunnings, KIA, Menulog and Wild Turkey joining as new sponsors for the season.
In 2023, the Fox Footy partnership with McCain will involve bespoke commercial break bumpers with McCain products and Fox Footy talent to integrate the brand, to air during Fox Footy’s Thursday night AFL coverage. A pre-game McCain Warm Up segment is also positioned to strategically reach viewers around dinner time, paired with an infographic on Fox Footy social platforms for a timely pre-dinner brand exposure.
Foxtel Media attributes their sponsor line-up to the 2022 season ratings and the watchability of the broadcast on both Fox Sports and Kayo Sports. Last season of AFL took top spot across Foxtel services last year and delivered the highest rated regular season games of all-time.
Streaming viewership continues to grow on Foxtel services, with streaming across Foxtel GO/Now and Kayo Sports growing 37% YoY, accounting for 47% of the Foxtel Group audiences across the season. Significantly, 80% of all AFL streaming minutes were viewed on a TV screen. Kayo Sports will also see major upgrades to the service this year, with product features that allow viewers to skip to the best part of the game (key moments) and a picture-in-picture pop-out player for viewers to keep watching even outside the app.
Martin Medcraf, director of sports sales and brand partnerships at Foxtel Media, said, “We can’t wait to start the AFL season with our new and returning partners. Our winning combination of world class technology, premium sporting content, and no ad breaks in live play makes the watchability of our platforms best on ground. With recent FoxTest research confirming that our low clutter ad environment and highly engaged audience create the greatest attention volume in market, we’re confident that this will be our best AFL season yet.”
Alex Shipp, brand activation manager at McCain, said, “We’re excited to join Foxtel Media for the second year as a naming rights partner for one of Australia’s most-loved sports. We share Foxtel Media’s passion for bringing people together around exciting sporting events where we all enjoy sharing favourite footy foods such as a big bowl of chips and family pizzas. We look forward to taking our immersive advertising experiences to the next level with Foxtel Media through greater integration with player warm-up segments and video bumpers with key media personalities, Sarah Jones and Leigh Montagna. We’re sure it’ll be a fantastic season ahead!”
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