• by Wayne Friedman , October 6, 2023

With live sports TV programming taking on more importance with TV advertisers, Walt Disney says its upcoming NHL season on all its TV networks and streaming platforms is “nearly sold out,” inking 26 deals for presenting sponsorships.

Disney Advertising was to get five new sponsorships -- Chewy, GoDaddy, Kohl’s, Procter & Gamble, and T. Rowe Price

This adds to the list of 21 presenting sponsorship brands from American Express, Apple, Mercedes-Benz USA, Taco Bell, Verizon, Fidelity, Kohl’s among others.

Overall, Disney says 120 advertisers representing 65 categories will see their on-air messaging on Disney channels.

Disney says that last season -- the 2022-23 NHL year --  nine of the top 10 overall games airing on ABC Television Network posted a 19% increase in viewership on the network. 

The full list of presenting sponsors also includes Amazon Web Services; Capital One; Discover; Enterprise; GoDaddy; Goodyear; Honda; Jägermeister; Lexus; MassMutual; Navy Federal Credit Union; New Amsterdam Vodka; Progressive; Roundup; SAP; Scott’s and Verizon.

Specific activations include Lexus and Discover, which will have the first and second intermission report presenting slots, respectively. Fidelity will be the overtime and shootout presenting sponsor. P&G will be the presenting sponsor of select episodes of "The Point." 

Last year’s NHL season aired five linear TV networks a year ago-- ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, ESPN Deportes -- totaled $155.3 million in national TV advertising spend, according to EDO Ad EnGage. The year before, it was $111.5 million.

NHL Hockey also is programmed on Disney’s Hulu and ESPN+.