Beer pairs nicely with sports, and the biggest sports day in America is coming up this Sunday with Super Bowl LVII. Of course, it is no surprise that folks will be stocking up on beer. According to the Brewers Association, the week before the big game last year was the seventh highest share week for craft by volume in IRI data and the eight highest for “craft beer” searches in Google data.
The tradition, at least in my mind, is to host or go to someone’s house for the classic Super Bowl party, but apparently more and more folks are hitting the pub for the game to get drinks and eats. It’s also maybe a little harder to get the game this year as well. I don’t have cable. I’ve embraced streaming, and Fox doesn’t offer any real streaming services, which means I would be forced to leave my house to even view the game. Whatever your personal factors involved, industry experts are expecting on-premise sales to get a bigger bump this year.
Let’s look at the first NFL weekend (Sept 8-11, 2022) as an example. According to BeerBoard’s 2022 NFL Opening Weekend Pour Report, nationwide beer consumption on premise was up 21 percent from Thursday to Sunday when compared to the 2021 NFL opening weekend. BeerBoard is a technology company that provides data and insights for on-premise alcohol management. According to that report, the top three states hitting the highest overall pour volumes for the weekend were California, Florida and Texas. As you might expect, America’s most popular style was Light Lager and Michelob Ultra leapfrogged Bud Light as the top brand poured, leading with an 11.3 percent share, according to that same report.
Looking ahead at this weekend, CGA by NielsenIQ’s latest consumer research is predicting a bigger impact from sporting fans at bars and restaurants across the country. CGA is a measurement, insights and research consultancy for on-premise data for the food and drink industries. According to the report, CGA by NielsenIQ’s data is forecasting that 3 in 10 U.S. consumers are planning to visit bars and restaurants to watch Super Bowl LVII. The most popular venue is set to be sports bars, but craft breweries that encourage sports fans and TV viewership (many don’t) should expect some good traffic. According to the report:
In 2022, BeverageTrak data reveals that the big game saw drinking outlets perform significantly better than the average Sunday with a +36% increase in traffic, resulting in a +10% uplift in velocity. As expected, Sports bars gave a strong performance, with a +70% increase in ticket count versus the average Sunday, with both Spirits (+68%) and Beer (+23%) seeing an impressive uptick.
Beer is the choice of most folks for the game, according to the report, “while around 1 in 3 consumers are planning to drink shots,” which I find hilarious. Two of the most interesting takeaways from this research involves commercials and gambling. From the CGA post:
94% of consumers stating that if they saw a commercial during the game for an alcoholic drink brand they hadn’t tried before, they would be likely to drink it, with 56% planning to trial in the On Premise.
And…
For Sunday’s big NFL event, 44% of viewers are planning to participate in fantasy sports betting or sports betting via mobile app in the On Premise, with New York over-indexing by 11 percentage points. The majority of viewers are more likely to bet on the big game, compared to other games, while 90% of those planning to take part in sports betting state that this activity would keep them at a venue longer to watch the full event. These consumers are also more likely to order more drinks if they watch a game that they’ve placed a bet on, and a successful bet would also prompt them to stay longer at the venue for another drink.
Interesting insights. In some unrelated news that perhaps counters this data, I will be traveling to Orlando this Sunday and will probably miss watching the game entirely, so please, have a beer for me.
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