Peas and carrots. Peanut butter and chocolate. Beer and football. Some things just naturally go together.
Regarding the last pairing — the inextricable bond between watching college and professional football and tipping back a few brewskis — it appears the relationship is particularly strong. Some might think that the hot summer months might be the most popular time to crack some cold ones, but fall (that is, football season) is actually peak beer-drinking season, according to a new analysis conducted by purchase data platform Attain.
There was a substantial jump in beer sales in November 2023 from the month prior, the data shows. Sales stayed high well into the next year, likely aided by Christmas, the NFL playoffs and St. Patrick’s Day, before finally dipping in April 2024.
Beer drinking, in general, is much higher in 2024 than the previous year. July was a huge month for beer sales, especially for Coors Light, which saw its average spend per customer increase $15 from the previous month. The bump in Coors Light sales might be attributed to its aggressive summer marketing campaign, which positioned Coors Light as the unofficial beer of the summer. Coors also rolled out new packaging for the summer, printing the word “Chill” on boxes and cans in the brand’s signature red cursive font.
As for which light beer brand will dominate this football season, the perennial contenders — Bud Light, Coors Light and Miller Lite — are all vying for the coveted number one ranking.
Bud Light trailed the other two beer brand powerhouses in 2023 in terms of average spend per customer, potentially an effect of the boycotts against the brand in response to its polarizing influencer partnership in April 2023 with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney.
But Bud Light made a huge comeback in August, increasing its average spend per customer to $34, up $8 from July, to become the most popular beer brand in the country this month.
The brand seems poised to capitalize on this momentum heading into football season. Just this week, Bud Light debuted a new ad campaign featuring famous comedian and noted Notre Dame football superfan Shane Gillis — a move back to the brand’s bro-y roots and away from social topics.
Zoomers’ aversion to drinking booze has been a puzzling phenomenon for marketers, and it's reflected in beer consumption trends. Attain data shows that not a single beer brand is over-indexed among age 34 or younger.
Indeed, all brands skew older in terms of their customer demographics, as younger drinkers prefer spiked seltzers and malt beverages to suds.
Mexican beer brands seem to have made significant gains among Millennial drinkers, however. Modelo and Corona, along with Coors Light, over-indexed among customers ages 35 to 44, proving that beer preference can be just as fierce and fickle as football fandom.
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