Until about three years ago, online sports betting was taboo. Then the Supreme Court changed that. Now, according to a report by Nielsen, online gambling advertising has become a new golden goose of the advertising world.

Online Gambling Advertising

Where it’s Big

“Currently a $154 million market in the local spot space, online gambling advertising spend has skyrocketed from a mere $10.7 million at the start of 2019,” according to Nielsen. In just the first quarter of 2021, the amount marketers spent on online gambling advertising per media type, and in thousands of dollars, totaled:

• Spot TV: $153,621
• National Digital: $24,838
• Network TV: $5,970
• Outdoor: $5,649
• Local Radio: $3,856
• Cable TV: $1,189
• Network Radio: $488
• Local Newspaper: $190

The data from Nielsen shows that TV ads make up the vast majority of online gambling advertising dollars (nearly 80%). Online gambling ad potential only has the ability to grow. “According to BIA Advisory Services, online gambling has the potential to drive more than $587 million into the local spot TV market by 2024,” says Nielsen. Additionally, not all states have fully legalized online gambling. As more markets become available to online gambling businesses, the potential for advertising will shoot up with it.

Sports Gambling

Most of the advertisers currently invested in online gambling advertising are focused on sports betting. With most sports fans currently watching the majority of their favorite events from home, where better to target them with gambling ads than where they’re currently watching sports? Their TVs.

Surprisingly, though, the majority of online gaming spot TV advertising placements don't appear during sports programming. In the first quarter of 2021, the most popular program genre for online gambling advertising placements was news programs (39%). This was followed by variety, audience participation, talk TV programs (24%) and THEN sports programming (14%). Other popular TV program genres to place online gambling spot TV ads during in Q1 2021 were dramas (12%) and comedies (7%).

Also, last year, “online/​digital sports betting-​related ad spend increased across 180 of the 208 designated market areas (DMAs) that Nielsen monitors,” says Nielsen. “Additionally, online/​digital sports betting spend in 185 DMAs exceeded $300,000, up from less than $50,000 across those same DMAs in 2017.” And again, the number of markets will only grow as more states legalize online gambling.

TV Ads

According to AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel, nearly 2% of U.S. adults are Gambling Entertainment Spenders. 76.5% of gambling spenders watch TV for a minimum of three hours every single day. Within the last year, 72.5% took action after seeing a TV commercial and 48% were driven to action by streaming TV advertising. So, it stands to reason that your clients should view spot TV as a good investment for online gambling advertising budgets. Gambling Entertainment Spenders are also 278% more likely than the average consumer to enjoy watching minor league hockey and 215% more likely to watch minor league baseball.

To find out which types of programming your clients should be placing their online gambling advertisements on, check out the audience profiles available on AudienceSCAN.