Sportsbooks Shift Ad Spends Toward NBA & MLB — Are NFL Spots Too Expensive Now?

Lynnae is a journalist covering the intersection of technology, culture, and gambling. She has more than five years of experience as a writer and editor, with bylines at SlashGear and MakeUseOf. On the gemgame side,... For sports betting advertisers, the NFL is still the top priority, but many operators are shifting ad dollars toward the NBA and MLB in pursuit of greater cost efficiency. New data from iSpot, shared with gemgame, shows that sportsbooks still spend the majority of their gambling ad dollars on NFL broadcasts, by a significant margin. However, those ads aren’t going as far as they used to, with impressions down per dollar compared to last season. This decline coincides with a shift in spending, as sportsbooks have begun redirecting funds to the NBA and MLB, which now reach a larger audience at a lower cost. This could be a sign that operators are rethinking their tried-and-true football strategy as they experiment with spending more outside the NFL. When it comes to spending advertising dollars, sportsbooks still view the NFL as the centerpiece of their strategy, with just over 80% of budgets going to football broadcasts. That translates to about four out of every five advertising dollars being spent on the NFL, making it clear that operators view the league as the most valuable ad real estate in sports. However, these ad dollars aren’t going as far as they used to. NFL spending dropped by about 8% from $129.5 million during the 2023–24 season to $119.4 million in 2024–25, while impressions fell nearly 15% year over year. In other words, operators are paying more to reach fewer fans than they did before, which isn’t an ideal trade-off for marketers who closely measure efficiency. Each NFL spot costs advertisers nearly $240,000 on average, by far the highest price tag in sports broadcasting. The NFL’s status as the most-watched sport in the US explains why sportsbooks continue to spend big despite diminishing returns. There’s no other sport that consistently delivers the same huge audience, and operators seem to be willing to bear the extra expense to get in front of these crowds. Still, the trend line shows why brands have started exploring alternatives. As the NFL experiences a decreasing reach per dollar, the NBA and MLB are gaining ground by offering sportsbooks more affordable ways to reach fans, with ad spots costing a fraction of what they do in football. The numbers help put this shift into perspective. During the 2024-2025 NBA season, sportsbook ad placements increased by 23% year over year, with impressions rising by 9%. That growth came on $25.9 million in spending, up from $24.5 million in 2023–24, with each airing averaging about $28,000, which is significantly less than the NFL’s nearly $240,000 per spot. The data shows NBA ads are reaching more viewers per dollar than NFL spots. If we examine MLB, things are a bit different. Sportsbook ad spending jumped 72% from approximately $725,000 in 2023–24 to $1.25 million in 2024–25, while impressions only increased 12%. In other words, sportsbooks spent a lot more money on ads during the 2024-2025 season, but didn’t get a much bigger audience in return. Even so, MLB spots averaged just under $3,500 each, much cheaper than the NFL’s nearly $240,000 price tag, making baseball a cost-effective way to reach more fans. Industry analysts suggest this diversification is intentional. As Tyler Bobin, Director of Brand Analyst Solutions at iSpot, told gemgame, “sportsbooks are showing an appetite to diversify their audiences outside just football.” As mentioned, the cost of an NFL spot averaged nearly $240,000 last season and generated approximately 4.2 million impressions per airing. Compare that to NBA spots, which cost approximately $28,000 and generated just over 1 million impressions per airing. While it’s true that the NFL delivers around four times more impressions per ad, operators are paying nearly nine times as much as they would for an NBA placement. When we take a look at the baseball numbers, the difference is even more dramatic. At roughly $3,500, an MLB spot averages around 320,000 impressions per airing. These ads certainly get far fewer eyeballs per spot than football. However, because they’re so cheap, MLB placements are about six times more efficient on a cost-per-impression basis. NFL ads still buy operators access to the biggest audiences, but money spent on NBA and MLB ads delivers more bang for the buck. This tradeoff explains why sportspooks are diversifying: sticking with the NFL for its massive audience, while turning to the NBA and MLB to get more reach for less money. Lynnae is a journalist covering the intersection of technology, culture, and gambling. She has more than five years of experience as a writer and editor, with bylines at SlashGear and MakeUseOf. On...