CNBC reported that Disney's plan to carry Super Bowl LXI on ABC, ESPN and Disney+ has unsettled some ABC affiliates, who fear the broader distribution could erode local advertising revenue.
An unnamed station-group CEO told CNBC that local advertising linked to the game could be as much as 35% below the level for the previous Super Bowl. CNBC put the event at about 3% of a typical affiliate's annual ad revenue in years when the station carries it. Those figures are estimates, not confirmed results. “I have a problem that there’s no acknowledgement that we’re losing money,” the CEO told CNBC.
In the United States, Disney+ subscribers will be able to watch the standard ABC and ESPN presentation. ESPN's other planned feeds include the ManningCast with Peyton and Eli Manning on ESPN2, Field Pass with The Pat McAfee Show on ESPNU and Playbook with Next Gen Stats on NFL Network. The animated Star Wars Funday Football will be available on Disney+ and the ESPN App, as well as Disney Channel and Disney XD.
The expanded distribution also extends outside the United States. Disney says Disney+ will carry the game in more than 55 international markets, while ESPN's linear services are slated to show it in more than 130 countries and territories.
CNBC reported that Disney+ does not support geofenced dynamic ad insertion, a system that enables stations to add locally sold commercials to selected streams. National commercials will be the same across platforms, and the Star Wars feed will have no ads, CNBC reported. A Disney spokesperson told the outlet that the company was “meeting the modern consumer where they are.”
CNBC described the affiliate model as two commercial relationships: stations pay networks for programming and seek fees from pay-TV distributors for carrying local signals. The outlet said the Super Bowl's audience and advertising potential factor into how affiliates value those arrangements.
Disney Advertising said on Aug. 5 that Super Bowl LXI inventory had sold out, covering 58 brands across 34 categories, including nine first-time Super Bowl advertisers. Disney and ESPN's NFL rights deal took effect with the 2023 season and puts the Super Bowls for the 2026 and 2030 seasons in ABC and ESPN's rotation. ESPN said ABC had not aired the Super Bowl since February 2006. Super Bowl LXI is scheduled for Feb. 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
