Longtime NFL RedZone host Scott Hanson says fans are adjusting to seeing ads during what was once a famously commercial-free broadcast.
Hanson, who previously introduced NFL RedZone by telling viewers that “seven hours of commercial-free football starts now,” told TMZ last Sunday’s Week 1 broadcast was a success despite added advertisements.
“As a consumer, I understand people’s angst, frustration, confusion, anger,” Hanson said in an interview published Friday by TMZ. “I host the show. I don’t have anything to do with the business side of things. The business folks handle the business, and I host the show.”
Hanson continued, “We ended up running four 15-second commercials spread out over the course of seven hours. I know some people are still frustrated about that, many people have already told me they didn’t even necessarily notice it when it happened.”
“I hope people will watch the show and judge for themselves… but based on Week 1, it was a big success, a big audience. Fans are still happy with NFL RedZone, and I’m thankful for that.”
NFL RedZone first played ads during a Sunday broadcast in Week 15 of the 2024 season in what an NFL media spokesperson told Front Office Spots’ Alex Schiffer was a “test run.”
ESPN acquired distribution rights to the RedZone broadcast in August as part of the deal that landed the NFL a 10 percent ownership stake in the network, although the program remained owned and operated by NFL Media.
An NFL spokesperson told Front Office Sports’ Daniel Roberts and David Rumsey the decision to add commercials during the 2025 regular season was “completely unrelated” to the ESPN deal.
Roberts and Rumsey also reported that while RedZone would feature four 15-second ads in its Week 1 broadcast, “that could change later in the season.”
According to the Associated Press’ Joe Reedy the NFL could expand to eight 15-second ads later in the 2025 season, bringing total ad time up to two minutes of the seven-hour broadcast.
EDO, a firm that measures the effectiveness of TV ads, estimated in August the NFL generates $5.2 billion in annual in national television advertising.
NFL teams generated an estimated $22.2 billion in total revenue last season, an increase of eight percent from 2023, per Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen.
