Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor On Sunday, Allstate is trading in its famous Mayhem character for chaos of a different sort. The big insurance company is testing a sponsorship of a new kind of sporting event that will feature some of Pixar’s best-known animated characters tackling a real-life NFL game. When the Jacksonville Jaguars play the Atlanta Falcons at 9:30 a.m.
Sunday from London’s Wembley Stadium, Disney+ and ESPN+ will stream the game in decidedly non-traditional fashion. Pixar’s famous “Toy Story” characters will emulate the real-life gridiron action. And instead of commercials, fans will see football trivia questions from Allstate when the game goes to a break.
Allstate wants to reach the audience that would tune in such as event, says Dave Marsey, the company’s senior vice president of media, but there’s little desire “to disrupt the creativity and just throw a spot in it,” he says. This method “leaves Allstate almost as part of the content.” The trivia questions appear in “Toy Story” style, complete with clouds and popsicle sticks that would fit right into scenes from the movies. A trivia question seems pretty simple, but Allstate and Disney are actually taking on a complex assignment.
Commercials are quite common during TV sports telecasts, as any fan who has watched a Major League Baseball or NBA game can attest. Expectations for streamers are different, however, One of the main attractions of streaming hubs is that they push significantly fewer ads at viewers over the course of a selection. Others have experimented as well.
NBCUniversal’s Peacock last year unveiled a mini-movie produced by tech player HP Inc. that told the story of data scientists trying to track down a rare plant. The theory at the
. Read on variety.com