By Variety | Created at 2026-06-15 11:46:53 | Updated at 2026-06-15 20:23:29
9 hours ago
Electronic Arts, the maker of interactive sports gaming favorites like Madden NFL and EA Sports FC, wants to get in on a different kind of contest: winning dollars from advertisers focused on sports.
The videogame giant has launched EA Advertising, a new platform it hopes will lure advertisers who are increasingly putting their marketing money behind traditional sports programming.
“The most passionate sports fans, they’re gamers. And when they game and when they play our games, it fuels their fandom for sport. It’s building new fans for the sport, and it’s really creating this ecosystem,” says Alex Dao, vice president of advertising and sponsorship at EA, during a recent interview. “And so we saw a massive opportunity to start to bring more of those brands that you typically see in a sports environment back into our game,”
EA’s new offer allows marketers to insert specialized pitches directly into game play, whether it be in the form of a sign in the stadium that serves as the environment for the contest or via deeper partnerships. In the recent past, for example, both Lowe’s and Visa have helped to create in-game experiences in EA Sports FC and EA Sports College Football, among other selections. PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew is part of “DEW University,” a fully playable team experience in EA Sports College Football 26.
EA launches its new effort to capture more interest from Madison Avenue just as TV networks are in the midst of wooing billions of dollars as part of the industry’s annual “upfront” marketplace. During this annual haggle, U.S. media companies try to lure advertising commitments tied to their next cycle of programming.
According to three media buyers, however, upfront budgets are down. To keep the money coming in, many of the TV and streaming competitors in the upfront are leaning heavily on sports, hoping that big games and championship spectacles will bring dollars in when scripted favorites face a harder time in doing so. Disney, for example, initially sought $10 million for a 30-second spot in next year’s Super Bowl telecast, before striking some deals at $8 million. Both figures represent higher-than-expected sums for Big Game inventory.
Gaming offers “ a different opportunity for brands to get in front of the most passionate sports fans, but to do so in a way that isn’t passive,” says Dao. TV viewers, he says are often “on your phone at the same time.” But EA’s games “are very interactive entertainment experiences and gives brands the opportunity to participate in that interactivity.”
EA hopes its new focus will make the process of embedding ads in its games less onerous, says Dao. “It has been tougher,” he acknowledges, with “custom” partnerships that took a long time to develop. A new interface will give advertisers more ability to get ads on and off EA’s games, while mapping out impact with audience measurement. “What we’re building towards is making it as frictionless as possible,” the executive adds.
