Googling for Sports:

How NCAA Programs Advertise Online Through Paid Search

Authors

  • Joshua Childs
  • Guillermo Ortega
  • Jase Kugiya
  • Zachary Taylor

Abstract

A wealth of research has analyzed how NCAA programs market and advertise for their athletic offerings. Although research into the marketing of NCAA football programs have dominated the literature, this study examined an under-researched element of NCAA marketing and advertising: advertising through paid online search techniques, especially as COVID-19 has moved many marketing efforts online. As a result, this study reports on Google Adwords strategies of a stratified random sample of 250 NCAA Division I, II, and III programs. Results suggest few NCAA programs engage with Google Adwords strategies (9.2%; 23 of 250 programs), while those that do are often Division I programs from Power 5 Conferences. Additionally, one institution spent over $18,000 per month on Google Adwords advertising, while another institution in the same athletics conference spent just under $500. Implications for NCAA program advertisement and online marketing—including in a COVID-19 environment—will be addressed.

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Published

2022-11-10

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Childs, J., Ortega, G., Kugiya, J., & Taylor, Z. (2022). Googling for Sports: : How NCAA Programs Advertise Online Through Paid Search. Journal of Amateur Sport, 8(1). https://journals.ku.edu/jams/article/view/15769