NFL TV OUTCOMES REPORT
September 2026
EDO measured 576 NFL advertisers across the 2025-26 season. The results show where scale, placement, and creative choices turned attention into action.
Impact of one ad
Total ad impact compared with an average primetime broadcast and cable ad.
NFL advertising did more than collect a large audience in 2025-26. It moved people to search for brands, visit their sites, and download their apps. EDO measured 576 advertisers across the regular season, playoffs, and Super Bowl LX to compare that response with primetime broadcast and cable.
The gap was already wide in September. It became enormous by February. One regular-season NFL ad produced as much total engagement as 73 average primetime ads. In the Super Bowl, that multiplier reached 1,455.
The postseason multiplied an advantage the regular season had already built
The regular season accounted for 9,943 measured airings and 183.2 billion estimated impressions. Those ads were 10% more effective than the primetime benchmark on a per-person, per-second basis.
Fewer playoff and Super Bowl airings reached much larger audiences per spot. Effectiveness rose to 33% above primetime in the playoffs and 226% above it during Super Bowl LX. Total impact moved even faster because the multiplier also captures audience size.
Regular season
73x
primetime ad impact
9,943
airings
183.2B
impressions
+10%
effectiveness
Playoffs
172x
primetime ad impact
1,150
airings
41.5B
impressions
+33%
effectiveness
Super Bowl LX
1,455x
primetime ad impact
63
airings
7.8B
impressions
+226%
effectiveness
Pharma took three of the first five regular-season spots
Nemluvio led all advertisers at 1,683% above the average regular-season NFL advertiser. Pluvicto finished second, and Ebglyss ranked fourth. Gillette broke up that run in third place, while Adobe completed the top five.
The rest of the list was less concentrated. SoFi, Duracell, Total Wireless, JCPenney, and Spectrum filled positions six through ten. SoFi's strongest Josh Allen spot beat the average NFL ad by 502%, putting one financial brand among a field led by medicine, grooming, and technology.
Top regular-season advertisers
Ad effectiveness versus the average NFL advertiser
A large football audience did not reward every vertical equally
Pharma posted the strongest category-level effectiveness in the regular season at 95% above its primetime average. The postseason widened that advantage to 248%. Quick-service restaurants also improved sharply after the regular season, moving from 54% to 121% above their category benchmark.
Sports betting tells a different story. Its regular-season investment more than doubled the category's total primetime spend, but effectiveness finished only 10% above the category benchmark. BetMGM and DraftKings carried much of the positive result.
Food and beverage
Top brand: King's Hawaiian
Regular
72x impact
Postseason
141x impact
Health and beauty
Top brand: Gillette
Regular
+58% effective
Postseason
+78% effective
Internet and telecom
Top brand: Adobe
Regular
+24% effective
Postseason
+31% effective
Pharma and medical OTC
Top brand: Nemluvio
Regular
+95% effective
Postseason
+248% effective
Quick-service restaurants
Top brand: Arby's
Regular
+54% effective
Postseason
+121% effective
Sports betting
Top brand: BetMGM
Regular
+10% effective
Postseason
+10% effective
Food and beverage uses Ad Impact multipliers in the report. The other category cards use Ad Effectiveness. The two measures should not be ranked against each other.
Halftime segments beat signage and billboards
EDO tracked 1,443 on-screen sponsorships from 139 brands across 79 nationally televised games. The analysis covered seven integration types, including in-game segments, presented-by bumpers, lower thirds, studio signage, and billboards.
Halftime studio show segments were the clear winner at 198% above the average sponsorship unit. Halftime signage reached 58% above average, while sponsor billboards finished 28% above it.
1,443
sponsorships
139
brands
79
games
7
unit types
Toyota's presented-by bumper was 157% more effective than the typical sponsorship. Burger King's sponsor billboard card was 104% above average. Bud Light's lower third came in 42% above average. The format was part of the result.
AI won the ranking, but placement and story still did the work
The two best-performing Super Bowl LX ads were nearly tied. The launch spot for ai.com generated 9.10 times the engagement of the median Big Game ad. Universal Pictures' Minions & Monsters trailer followed at 9.09 times the median. Lay's, Netflix, and Dunkin' completed the top five.
AI services also produced one of the tightest category fights. Ai.com captured 43% of category engagement, Claude took 26%, and Genspark took 17%. ChatGPT, Gemini, and Microsoft split the remaining 14%.
Top five ads
ai.com
Introducing ai.com
Universal Pictures
Minions & Monsters
Lay's
The Lay's Challenge
Netflix
Untitled Film Teaser
Dunkin'
Good Will Dunkin'
Engagement compared with the median Super Bowl LX ad.
1.7x
Go first in the pod
The first ad in a Super Bowl commercial break drew 1.7 times the engagement of ads that ran later.
1.8x
Cast for comedy
Comedians beat the average celebrity appearance. Dramatic actors reached 1.3 times the same benchmark.
1.5x
Open with a situation
Ads that began with a dilemma or scripted scene beat the baseline for direct product openings.
~50%
Control what can be controlled
Game excitement drove about half of incremental lift. Placement and creative choices made up the other half.
86 celebrities
They appeared in 98 ads across 20 categories. MrBeast led celebrity engagement at 37.3 times the median celebrity appearance.
Stories beat pitches
Situational openings reached 1.5 times the baseline engagement. A recognizable face helped, but a scene with momentum gave viewers a reason to keep watching.
This is a response signal, not a sales receipt
EDO connects each national linear TV airing to the incremental spike in online brand engagement within minutes of the ad. Its model controls for impressions, ad duration, seasonality, and other factors before comparing one airing with another.
The underlying database covers national linear ads since 2015: 389 million airings, 2.6 million creatives, 36,000 advertisers, and 112 trillion impressions. EDO says the measured actions predict future sales. The report does not claim that every search or site visit became a purchase.
389M
ad airings
2.6M
ad creatives
36K
advertisers
112T
ad impressions
Buy the moment. Then earn the response.
NFL inventory supplies reach and attention. The brands that won paired that audience with a strong position in the break, a clear story, and creative built for the setting.
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