NFL Sunday Ticket Tackles the Pandemic and Scores Lifelong Fans
For years, DIRECTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket has been winning student subscribers with an exclusive 75% discount on its streaming service. Then the pandemic closed campuses and nearly shut down the league. The company responded by doubling down on its strategy—maintaining the offer and deploying bold marketing tactics like animated commercials, podcasts with favorite sports hosts, and premade video messages students could use to ask their parents for a gift subscription.
Launching an untested campaign was risky, but using SheerID to prevent discount abuse gave the sports brand the confidence to run its 4th-and-long play. The move scored big, driving an 29% increase in subscribers and winning the company the Vince Lombardi Trophy of streaming service success metrics—a 75% student renewal rate.
THE OFFER
STUDENT OFFER SUCCESS
SUBSCRIPTIONS UP
RENEWAL RATE
To keep the program’s momentum when students shifted to remote learning, we had to reimagine how we engaged them.
Jamie Dyckes Assistant Vice President Sports & Premiums Marketing, Video Subscriptions
PRO TIP
Promote your offer with innovative tactics that delight your buyers and make it easy for them to purchase.
NFLSUNDAYTICKET.TV UNIVERSITY
PRO TIP
Use a generous discount to win new customers and trust that the value of your product will keep them coming back.
PRO TIP
Digitally verify eligibility for your offer so you can promote it broadly without risking discount abuse.
Many Gen Zers who use a student discount to subscribe fall in love with the service and pay full-price after they graduate.
Jamie Dyckes Assistant Vice President Sports & Premiums Marketing, Video Subscriptions
CONSUMER COMMUNITY
Students
OFFER TYPE
75% Discount
USE CASE
Seed Marketing | Fraud Prevention