DraftKings seventh highest TV ad spender last week

Daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings was the seventh highest spender on television advertising in the past week.

According to iSpot.tv’s rankings, DraftKings spent an estimated $9,458,979 hawking its wares on television in the last seven days, spending significantly more than Verizon, McDonald’s and Nissan. Clearly, somebody’s gearing up for next month’s kickoff of a new National Football League season.

While the sum may seem staggering, it bears reminding that DraftKings’ deal with sports broadcaster ESPN reportedly requires DraftKings to spend $500m over the next three years marketing its product across ESPN properties. Also, the NFL is the undisputed king of DFS sports, so it pays to make hay while the sun shines.

In July, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins told AdWeek that DFS could be “among the top categories of advertising in sports over the next year” because “as a relatively new company, advertising has been the best way to introduce DraftKings to new players.”