How Disney Ad Sales Sold Out the Stanley Cup Finals in Its First Year With NHL Package

The National Hockey League is back on Disney-owned networks for the first time in 17 years, and to the delight of the Disney ad sales team, the company’s networks had the exclusive rights to this year's Stanley Cup Final. As the NHL wraps its first season back on the company’s networks, Disney Advertising “essentially sold out” the finals before the series even started, attracting 10 sponsors and 59 advertisers across 35 categories, Jim Minnich, svp, revenue and yield management, Disney Ad Sales, told Adweek. In March, Disney and the NHL struck a seven-year deal that made Disney properties the primary TV and streaming home for the hockey league. (Turner Sports landed the other NHL package, which will bring live sports to HBO Max for the first time; the two companies will alternate rights to the finals each season.) “We're extremely happy with the success not only of the regular season, but also as it relates to playoffs and then specifically Stanley Cup Finals,” said Minnich. Last year's Stanley Cup Finals, the last to air on NBC under the previous rights deal, generated an estimated $24.9 million in ad revenue, according to Kantar. Here’s How Turner Sports and ESPN Grew Female NHL Audiences by Double-Digits As the finals between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Colorado Avalanche head to Game 5—with average viewership during the series (4.2 million) up 67% compared to last year's series on NBC, and the adults 18-49 audience (1.6 million) up 83%—Disney Ad Sales hopes the series stretches all the way to a seventh game. “We're pleased with the audience. We're extremely happy that the series goes at least five [games] and hopefully it goes to six or seven,” said Minnich, adding that Disney plans to ride the momentum of the 2021-22 season into next year. “We're very excited for next year as well, even though Stanley Cup transitions over to Turner. So hopefully the success we had they can continue to have and build on that success as well,” he added. 'Significant' spending across the board Disney pointed to the plethora of entry points as an attraction for advertisers and brands, with opportunities to buy across linear and ESPN+, including broadcast, cable, addressable and DTC. Categories were across the board, but insurance, auto, travel and QSR/restaurant were particularly strong. However, Minnich said most of the company’s revenue came from its official partnerships throughout the season across the cable networks, ABC, Hulu and ESPN+. “We were aggressive, frankly, in garnering significant spending from a significant number of clients. Not only official partners, but also non-official partners,” said Minnich. Disney sold the majority of its NHL inventory during last year's upfront, before selling the rest in scatter. “The scatter market percolated earlier than usual for us, because I think folks realize that the avails in the NHL specifically were few and far between, and so we’ve essentially been sold out in the Stanley Cup Finals for, I would say, several months,” said Minnich. Every game is presented by Geico, and Verizon is bringing pre- and post-game content. Lexus and Discover sponsor the first and second intermission reports, and then in the chance of overtime (such as in Game 4), Subway would sponsor that intermission report. Crypto.com and Honda have in-game features, SAP sponsors statistical insights and Goodyear provides aerial coverage. “It’s utilizing the strength of last year's upfront with official sponsors, and it really put us in a very, very well sold position across multiple categories, which is always good to say,” said Minnich. New marketing potential Both ESPN and Turner Sports have taken advantage of the different audiences that the NHL attracts over other legacy leagues like the NFL and NBA—more specifically young, diverse and women-oriented. “It's a slightly different audience, and we have a different unique roster of clients,” said Minnich, pointing to unique sets of sponsors. Both the NHL and the NBA start in the late fall, head into the winter and then end in the summer. “It does parallel NBA’s flighting, but I think that's pretty much where the similarities end,” said Minnich. “I want to double down on ESPN+ and Hulu. That's a really, really big differentiating point for this particular contract. We've been in the press recently talking about how any sort of contract that we're doing will include not only our linear networks, but also our DTC offerings as well. I think that that provides a unique impact and perspective with advertisers and marketers.”