Editor’s note: The following represents the view of the author.
The high volume of sports betting advertisements coming across every form of media has officially become unbearable.
No matter what media outlet you use to occupy your time, you’re guaranteed to see a sportsbook ad.
What makes it worse is that most of the marketing is for new user welcome offers. So if you’re like me and have already tried out a majority of the NY sportsbooks, you can’t use those bonus offers anyway.
NY sports betting advertising unavoidable, inevitable
Sports betting marketing is a lot like Thanos — inevitable.
Except Thanos loses in the end, whereas sportsbooks always succeed in finding a way to be sure you see their ads.
Go on Twitter and you’ll see sportsbooks sending out memes on current events in the sports world. The biggest culprit being FanDuel Sportsbook NY:
The Eagles defensive line after last night: pic.twitter.com/itrodYIli6
— FanDuel (@FanDuel) April 28, 2023
This gives Buzzfeed vibes and only makes sportsbook ads more annoying. Take your unfunny Tweets and leave them in the drafts, FanDuel.
Then you turn the TV on and what do you see? You guessed it: more sportsbook ads. For my money, the worst one is the DraftKings Sportsbook NY and Kevin Hart collaboration. If I hear Hart yell, “Team overdog, where you at?!” one more time, I may lose it.
Unfortunately, podcasts and radio aren’t spared from sports betting marketing exposure. Almost every popular podcast has a personalized promo code to sign up with. Then you’ve got sports talk radio hosts cobbling together last-second prop bets as part of a sportsbook ad read.
I wonder how often those props actually win — it can’t be often.
Examining the number of ads in Knicks, Rangers games
I decided to watch every second of Game 5 of the NBA first round between the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers held in Ohio. Commercials included, to see if the sports betting ads are still at an all-time high.
The Knicks game was broadcast on NBATV and shockingly, there weren’t many sports betting ads. Throughout the entire game, only two sportsbook commercials came on. Both were from DraftKings, and they featured highlights of NBA superstars to promote wagering on the playoffs.
I did notice some Bally Bet signage in Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, obviously for the Ohio product. Beyond Bally and DraftKings, no other sportsbook marketing was shown. There was one commercial that opened with Hart, and I was afraid it was the overdog commercial again. Luckily, it was for Chase Bank.
Thinking this was too good to be true, I tuned into Game 5 coverage of New York Rangers vs. New Jersey Devils on ESPN. I was happy to report that not many ads were aired during commercial breaks, but they were unavoidable during the actual game itself.
On the boards beneath the Rangers bench at the Newark-based Prudential Center was a massive DraftKings logo. Then, as the game started, the broadcast was able to superimpose various ads on the boards while the action was going on.
Betway Sportsbook logos occupied the boards a lot during the game. Then in one corner of the rink, the Betway emblem was underneath the ice. Betway even has its logo between each step in the 100 level of the Prudential Center.
But these didn’t bother me as much because it was easy to focus on the hockey, rather than the in-game ads.
Do sportsbook executives realize what is happening?
When the same advertisement runs over and over again across multiple platforms, people start building negative connotations with that company. That’s exactly what’s happening with sports betting ads, and it makes you wonder what their strategy is.
Luckily, consumers have a way to fight back. When using your computer, you can install ad blockers to limit the amount of ads you see. Some subscription services even offer the ability to see less ads by upgrading your package.
During the Advertising Week conference in New York a few years ago, Joanna Coles, former chief content officer of Hearst Magazines shared her thoughts on the state of advertising.
“People hate advertising. They f—ing truly and actually, hate it … and this all the agencies’ and advertisers’ fault.”
A simple, yet effective way to describe how consumers in general are feeling. But especially sports bettors.
