Chili's didn't air a single TV ad in 2022, according to the iSpot Midseason TV Ad Report provided to SBJ. But from Jan. 1 through Oct. 31 in 2023, 38% of the $30.6 million that the brand spent on all TV advertising was devoted to live NFL action.

Verizon has ramped up NFL postseason TV ad spend through first two roundsNFL sponsor Verizon has ramped up its postseason TV ad spend, and it now occupies the top spot among all brands after the Divisional and Wild Card games. SBJ's David Broughton and I dug through iSpot.tv data and found that Verizon, which has sponsored the league since 2010, has spent $50.7 million on national TV ads through the first two rounds of the playoffs, up 68% from what it spent during the same time frame last season

On the TV side, Activision Blizzard even splurged for Overwatch 2 ads during the expensive TV real estate around "Monday Night Football" this week. The estimated cost for the 15-second spot, which aired across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 (which carried the ManningCast), totaled over $535,000, per data from iSpot.tv.

Advertisers returned to nationally televised NBA games in a big way this season, as the spend on those telecasts was up 114% from the COVID-shortened '20-21 season, according to an analysis of data from iSpot.TV. A full 82-game season led more brands to get in on increased advertising in '21-22 (even with increased primetime TV ad rates), translating to an estimated ad spend of $449.6M on nationally-aired NBA games, up from $209.8M last season with 72 games (that's a 14% uptick in game inventory).