A year after Bud Light’s controversial marketing campaign with a transgender influencer sparked a controversy and boycott, the beer manufacturer has yet to recover.
But Bud Light and parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev’s misfortune has been profitable for its NFL TV partners in an unexpected way.
According to Sportico, A-B spent $80 million on its TV marketing during NFL games last season, up 13% from the previous year.
The campaign didn’t help sales during football season. According to the Wall Street Journal, year-over-year Bud Light sales volume was down 30% for the two weeks preceding Super Bowl LVIII.
In North America, organic revenue for A-B InBev declined $1.4 billion in 2023, largely the result of the decline in Bud Light sales.
“I think we are making progress,” AB InBev CEO Michel Doukeris said recently during the company’s earnings call (via Sportico). “It’s not at the fast pace that we were expecting or that we’ve been working for, but nevertheless, progress is in place.”
Even the ad campaign ran into some issues. A Super Bowl commercial featuring Peyton Manning, singer Post Malone and UFC president Dana White, earned criticism because White had not condemned recent anti-trans comments made by a UFC fighter.
White had garnered criticism last fall for announcing Bud Light as the “Official Beer Partner of UFC.”
According to Sportico, Anheuser-Busch also nearly quadrupled its ad spending last season on college football, to $1.45 million.
Bud Light commercials represented about 30% of the $259 million in beer advertising revenues for the NFL’s TV partners last season. So those networks have a vested interest in seeing the company rebound.
[Sportico]
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.