ESPN's Holiday Season Ad Attention Is A Present In Primetime

The holiday season is a crowded time of year, especially on TV. But with a strong roster of premier sports and special one-off events, ESPN has been able to cut through the primetime holiday ad buzz better than any other top network so far, as data from iSpot showcases.

With an attention index score 28% above the norm in primetime since Thanksgiving, ESPN is No. 1 among the top 50 networks by a significant margin (Fox is No. 2 at 16% above). In an environment that's increasingly seeing sports as traditional TV's best sales pitch, ESPN certainly appears to have a lot of advantages.

• iSpot data shows that live sporting events like the NFL (Monday Night Football) not only delivered the most impressions for ESPN, but much higher attention than the norm, too.
• The NFL, in particular, excels in primetime on ESPN, with 45% higher attention than the norm since Thanksgiving.
• Football wasn't the only winner, though, since basketball scored attention as well; the NBA was No. 2 by ESPN primetime TV ad impressions with attention 20% higher than the norm, while men's college basketball had attention 6% higher than the norm.
• But to little surprise, other networks were also buoyed by the NFL in primetime: Fox (16% above the norm), NBC (11% above the norm) and ABC (9% above the norm) had higher-than-average primetime attention as well and aired at least one primetime NFL game apiece in the timeframe.