MoffettNathanson analysts told investors in a note that there is no ceiling in sight for NFL viewership or sports betting.
The analysts believe that heading into the new NFL season, the biggest question for media executives is how much more room the NFL could grow, with the dominant sports league already accounting for 82 of the top 100 most viewed broadcasts in 2022.
"Surely there had to be a ceiling. Well, either because of some help from a certain pop singer or simply America's appetite for something resembling a mass cultural moment, the NFL managed to grow overall regular season ratings +10% with increases across the board in almost every package," the analysts said.
"That ceiling got even higher with the league accounting for an astonishing 93 of the top 100 broadcasts in 2023," they added.
The analysts also noted the biggest gainer of the year was Monday Night Football, While Thursday Night Football on Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) also grew strongly in its sophomore year.
"The Sunday broadcast games were about flat Y/Y, with the packages at FOX (-1%) and CBS (+1%) stable, though both are lapping solid growth last year of +2% and +8%, respectively. NBC's SNF grew +5%," the analysts said.
On Sports Betting, the analysts stated that with the peak seasonality of the business around the NFL season, no time of the year is more important than the fourth quarter.
"Through September of this year, DraftKings made meaningful strides in growing its share of OSB gross gaming revenues at the expense of FanDuel as well as the long tail of other operators," they said. "In September, the first month of the NFL season, DraftKings' share reached 38%."