Sports fans spend 80 days of their lives watching commercials

Do you love watching your favorite sports team play on TV? If so, then be careful: the time you actually spend watching commercials may shock you.

According to a recent study conducted by our researchers at WSN, the average American sports fan spends 115,860 minutes – that’s more than 80 full days – over the course of their lifetime watching commercials to watch their favorite teams!

That’s an amazing amount of time, and enough to make any avid sports fan ponder how much money they’re spending each month on cable packages to get all those ads alongside those staggering fees. Not only is this an inconvenience, it also wastes valuable gaming time on our beloved games.

In this article, we’ll look at the research that uncovered this information and discuss what it means for fans who want more control over their viewing experience when it comes to cheering on their favorite team.

How many ads do we have to see per game?

Sports

Average game length (m)

Average campaign length (m)

advertising time (m)

Time spent watching games

Time spent watching ads

basketball

135

48

44

36%

32%

football

192

60

60

31%

31%

ice Hockey

120

60

30

50%

25%

wrestling

180

100

40

56%

22%

mma

120

75

23

63%

19%

baseball

183

18

33

10%

18%

tennis

165

139

13

84%

8th%

football

110

95

8th

86%

7%

Basketball takes the biggest strain on our eyeballs when it comes to filling games with commercials, with almost as much time being spent watching ads as actually watching the sport (32% of time watching ads vs 36% who watch the game).

While watching basketball, fans are bombarded with commercials from all angles – on the field, on digital screens, on the sidelines, the arena names themselves, commercials on the baskets, not to mention the commercial breaks themselves. Some networks even run ads that take up a large portion of the screen during free throws.

Football is the sport with the second highest amount of time spent watching ads compared to the game. It is often commented on how the number of ads really disrupts the flow of the game. With just under a third (31%) of time spent watching ads during a football game, it’s no wonder fans aren’t happy, as multiple Reddit threads show a desire to reduce ads.

We’ve also noticed a sharp increase in the number of gambling commercials during NFL games, with the top sportsbooks promoting their latest football betting promotions to gain market share in this booming market.

Baseball is the only sport where you spend more time watching the commercials than watching the action. 18% of time during a baseball game is spent watching commercials, when an average 183 minute game actually only sees 18 minutes of action, equates to a meager 10% of time spent watching the players, how they do their thing.

The sport with the least amount of advertising is soccer, as 86% of the time spent watching the game is actually playing. The game, which consists of two uninterrupted 45-minute halves, means fans only have to spend 7% of their time watching commercials during the half-time break.

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