By Jamie Barrie E veryone remembers the famous Payton Manning Papa John’s commercials during the NFL Play Offs and Super Bowl airings, well that might all be coming to an end as Papa John’s reconsiders its sponsorship of the NFL amid declining television ratings for the sport. There has been a lot of controversy in the NFL these days regarding player’s actions on and off the field that is taking a toll on fans and sponsors of the game. Recently Papa John’s founder, John Schnatter hammered the NFL’s leadership for not resolving the issue of players kneeling during the national anthem, which has lead to declining ratings for NFL Programming and Papa John’s reconsidering its sponsor- ship of the NFL. Schnatter blamed the NFL for its lackluster third-quarter pizza sales and has said that, Papa John’s top executives will continue to discuss returns on their advertis- ing dollars with the NFL weekly and will continue to monitor ratings and industry trends for the rest of the season before making a decision on advertising. It goes without saying that player protests are having an impact on the game, but technology is also playing a major role in declining ratings with more and more NFL fans moving to streaming games rather than watching them on network TV, and this has Papa John’s and many other sponsors completely rethinking their advertising strategy as consumers move from traditional viewing to digital formats and streaming online and how they can target those cus- tomers before, during and after the game.
43
NOVEMBER 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog