This most recent NFL season will most likely be remembered because a certain international mega pop star willingly flew to Kansas City, repeatedly, to support her football-playing boyfriend, tugging at the heartstrings of America.

Aside from the romance, it was also the kickoff to YouTube TV’s first season with the NFL’s Sunday Ticket package, which reportedly cost the platform around $2 billion per season for seven years.

For fans, the package was a quick hit. In October, the package had about 1.3 million subscribers, Bloomberg reported—nearly as many as when it was previously on DirecTV. YouTube, though, has been tight-lipped about the performance of the package.

Media buyers told Marketing Brew that they had some reservations about buying Sunday Ticket, particularly because of YouTube’s move to bundle Sunday Ticket inventory with other YouTube content. Whether this offering evolves could ultimately dictate whether they spend next season, and for now, the company plans to continue offering bundled packages next season. (YouTube declined to discuss its ad sales strategy for the coming season.)

The pitch: Instead of more traditional, in-game ad buys, YouTube pitched many advertisers on different bundles of inventory, five media buyers told Marketing Brew.

• According to one post-campaign report Marketing Brew reviewed, these could include a mix of in-game Sunday Ticket impressions, impressions from YouTube TV, and NFL-claimed content from YouTube creators like Highlight Heaven (which posts videos like “Travis Kelce FURIOUS at Andy Reid and bumps him”) or Budleewiser (which posts content like “NFL Brutal Hits of the 2023 Season!”).

These channels may rack up millions of views, but it was a bit of a harder sell for advertisers we spoke to.

“I hated it,” Adam Schwartz, SVP and director of national broadcasts and sports media at Horizon Media, said. “Previously, [with DirecTV], we were able to just buy Sunday Ticket.”

Continue reading here.—RB

Wondering how your brand’s messaging stacks up against competitors? Well, Klaviyo dug into 325b+ emails and 3b+ texts sent from retail brands—and found some pretty interesting intel.

Take a peek at the data in their 2024 benchmark report on e-commerce email and SMS performance. With this report, you’ll have all the latest info on:

• what “good” and “great” performance looks like for your specific industry
• actionable tips to improve performance for key metrics
• expert advice to guide your marketing strategy

Whether you want to know how your current metrics compare to industry averages or just want inspo for your next email or SMS campaign, this new report from Klaviyo has it all.

Make sure your messages hit the mark.

Your streaming habit might be costing you a pretty penny.

Americans are spending an average of $119.76 a month on streaming video services, more than the average $112.11 per month they spend on gas, according to a new report from Fox Corp.-owned free streamer Tubi and Stagwell’s The Harris Poll.

The report, which detailed new streaming trends, particularly among Gen Zers and millennials, found that that’s just about as high as consumers feel willing to go: 83% of survey respondents would cut ties with a streamer if it upped prices, the survey found. (Last year, streaming steadily grew pricier as services attempted to better monetize their services and encourage ad-supported viewing.)

We compiled some of the other highlights of the report below:

My way or the highway: When it comes to ads, viewers don’t want ads disrupting their programming too much. More than a third of respondents said their most preferred ad format was a standard ad break during a “convenient plot point break,” much like ad breaks on traditional TV.

Watch party: Co-viewing is the name of the game. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said they viewed streaming content with household members to spend quality time. Gen Z approached co-viewing a little differently; 54% of those younger survey respondents who streamed communally preferred to watch with people outside their households.

Read more here.—JS

Each week, we spotlight Marketing Brew readers in our Coworking series. If you’d like to be featured, introduce yourself here.

Lindsey Lionheart O’Brien is the chief marketing officer of Mozilla, where she markets products like Mozilla VPN, Firefox Relay, and the Firefox browser. Prior to her role at Mozilla, she led corporate-level marketing for Facebook and at GoldieBlox, an organization centered on bridging the gender gap in STEM.

Favorite project you’ve worked on? Our five-day Berlin Reclaim the Internet event in October 2023. This marked Mozilla’s 25th anniversary and brought together a diverse group of global artists, activists, luminaries, and technologists to celebrate what an open, accessible, and supportive internet can achieve. As part of this campaign, we also celebrated empowering individuals who are shaping the future of the internet to be happier and healthier at Mozilla’s first-ever Rise 25 Awards. We honored 25 people who are shaping the future of the internet by creating technologies that are more ethical, responsible, and equitable and content that is more inclusive and diverse.

What’s one marketing-related podcast/social account/series you’d recommend? This podcast is not necessarily marketing-focused, but I love listening to Las Culturistas with Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers. As marketers, it’s critical for us to stay in touch with what is happening around the world, especially as digital marketing becomes more and more challenging. We must consume content that taps into the zeitgeist to make sure we are on trend with what everyone is currently interested in. This podcast does a great job of doing that and really has its fingers on the pulse of what everyone is talking about—plus, it has two hilarious entertainers.

Read more here.

Summer’s just around the corner . Are your marketing strategies ready to make it one for the record books? If you need a primer, turn to the Ibotta Performance Network’s Summer Kickoff 2024 guide. You’ll find everything you need to know about the seasonal trends set to shape the warmer months. Make this summer count.

Mergers and acquisitions, company partnerships, and more.

• Choice Hotels is withdrawing its takeover bid of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts after Wyndham’s board rejected the company’s offers.
• Apple teamed up with director Takashi Miike for the latest edition of its “Shot on iPhone” campaign, a live-action version of the manga series Midnight.
• Ally Financial is Wrexham AFC’s newest partner, inking a multimillion-dollar deal to sponsor the club’s women’s and men’s teams’ US tour this summer.

EMARKETER forecasts show that people are spending more time on social platforms. As marketers, it’s crucial to stay aware in this new era of social media. Gain valuable insights into Gen Z’s influence, TikTok’s dominance, and Meta’s evolving landscape by accessing EMARKETER’s exclusive cheat sheet.

Download your copy today.