Sponsorship
We offer monthly sponsorships which cover both The Spiel and Major Fun.
Sponsorship gives you access to an active, responsive community of listeners with a shared passion for games including many people new to the hobby and plenty of lifelong enthusiasts. Families, teachers, scientists, artists, professionals, students, and retirees all count themselves among our audience. Put simply, if you are involved in the business of games, The Spiel and Major Fun reach your customers in ways that traditional advertising cannot.
Between podcast downloads, web site traffic, and social media reach, the sponsorship will reach an audience of at least 50,000 people. (a detailed audience breakdown is listed below).
Our sponsorship plans come in two forms:
1. Regular Monthly Sponsorship of The Spiel & Major Fun
2. Convention Month Sponsorship (August/October)
CURRENT/PAST SPONSORS INCLUDE
Publishers
Bezier Games, HABA, Blue Orange, Gigamic, Cheapass Games, Stronghold Games, Portal Games, Greater Than Games, North Star Games, Formal Ferret Games, MAGE Company, Artipia Games, Crash Games, CSE Games, Asmadi Games, Game Salute, Split Second Games, APE Games, Backspindle Games, Frosted Games, Funnybone Toys, many many Kickstarter campaigns
Game Retailers
Starlit Citadel, Time Well Spent, Gateplay, Power to the Meeple
Geek Culture
Geek Nation Tours, Board Game Tables.com, Gamer Cruises, PAX Unplugged
We produce 4 game reviews each month during our 10 month season. The first half of our season is February to June. The second half is August to December.
Special rates apply to August and October sponsors, since they also include our GenCon and Essen convention coverage (full details are listed below).
Regular monthly sponsorships cover the game review content we produce during non convention months.
Two reviews are audio programs which are released on The Spiel's podcast feed with an episode listing posted on the spiel.net and majorfun.com.
Two review is written and is posted to thespiel.net and majorfun.com.
Each game reviewed receives an award: the Major Fun Award or the Spiel of Approval Award. These awards are recognized internationally as badges of quality and many publishers place our award logos on game boxes.
SPONSOR BENEFITS
Each monthly sponsor receives 2 audio ads, 2 web site ads and 4 social media shout outs.
AUDIO ADS
We will play a 40-45 second ad that runs at the top of every audio episode we produce during your month of sponsorship.
We can write and record the ad or you can provide us with a script or a pre-recorded ad.
We will also thank you and mention you as a sponsor at the end of each episode.
WEB ADS
We will include a graphic ad on thespiel.net and majorfun.com linked to your business during the month of your sponsorship.
SOCIAL MEDIA
We will post four sponsor shout-outs on The Spiel's Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts, two targeted posts including links to your business and two general thank yous to all sponsors including each sponsor's social media links.
INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION
We only accept 4 sponsors each month. This means your ads are not lost among the crowds. Being a sponsor on The Spiel gives your business an opportunity to stand out and insures we will give each ad the individual attention and service it deserves.
Our Audience: Listeners: 4,000 - 5,000
Many in our audience download & listen as soon as new episodes are released. This initial audience is at least 2,500 listeners within two weeks of release.
This initial audience does not tell the whole story, though. Because episodes are always available and many listeners do not download each episode immediately and because new listeners continue to discover the show, the audience for each episode increases significantly over time, often doubling or tripling. To account for these listeners, on average, each episode eventually reaches at least 4,000 - 5,000 listeners.
This also means each ad has an extended lifespan (and value) well beyond its inital release date. Past sponsors still receive responses on a regular basis from ads that ran several years ago.
Our Audience: Readers: 40,000
Our sites, thespiel.net and majorfun.com, collectively average 40,000 unique visitors each month.
Our Audience: Social Media: 8,600
The Spiel has over 5,900 followers on Twitter, I have over 1,700 friends on Facebook and The Spiel's Facebook page has 1,000 followers.
Our Audience: Total: 50,000+
Between our audio program and our web and social media presence, a conservative estimate shows your ads can reach 50,000 people over the course of a month, if not more.
2019 MONTHLY SPONSORSHIP RATE
Single Month Sponsorship: $250 (.5 cents per person! That's not 50 cents, that's half a penny per listener/reader!)
We attend GenCon and Essen, the largest game conventions in North America and Europe, each year and record a series of 7 discussion panels live from the trade show floor during the event. These panels are directed discussions on a specific topic with an engaging mix of designers, publishers and artists in the game industry.
The interviews are edited and release shortly after the convention - one panel episode each day for 7 days.
Here's a link to our 2018 GenCon Coverage.
A UNIQUE WAY TO ATTEND THE CON
Conventions like GenCon and Essen bring so many amazing, creative minds in the world of games together. Our coverage gives listeners a seat at the table with great designers and publishers in the industry; people the typical game rmight not be able to sit down and chat with at a con. Best of all, each interview is not part of a sales pitch, but a genuine conversation. Each interview is an event - a reason to take note and tune in. This kind of discussion is something you wont find anywhere else.
THE NUMBERS
Our interviews generate a great deal of interest around the world in the weeks following each convention.
In 2018, each GenCon panel episode had at least 5,000 downloads and many panels saw 10,000 - 15,000 donwloads. And because this content is evergreen, the download numbers for these discussions continue to rise over time.
SPONSOR BENEFITS
Each GenCon/Essen sponsor will receive:
1 audio ad on one GenCon/Essen panel episode (30-40 seconds)
2 web site ads ( 1 on thespiel.net and 1 on majorfun.com)
4 social media shout outs throughout the month
AUDIO ADS
Your sponsorship ad will appear at the beginning of the episode.
The ad will be a 30-40 second spot.
We can write and record the ad or you can provide us with a script or pre-recorded ad.
WEB SITE ADS
Your web site ad will appear in the sidebar in the upper portion of both web sites with a link to your business.
SOCIAL MEDIA
We will post sponsor shout-outs to The Spiel's Twitter and Facebook account, including a link to your business.
BASE SPONSORSHIP RATE
The base rate for a GenCon/Essen Month sponsorship reflects the added audience/value of our convention coverage.
GenCon/Essen Monthly Sponsorship: $350
As mentioned above, this includes one audio ad on one panel episode.
SPONSORSHIP VALUE
Let's put things in perspective and do a little math for the $350 GenCon/Essen sponsorship to demonstrate its value.
Here's the reach for a monthly GenCon sponsorship including one episode.
1 GenCon/Essen episode: 5,000 - 15,000 listeners (listenership is often double or triple the average monthly episode!)
Web site unique visitors: 40,000 readers
Social Media: 5,900 (Twitter), 2,700 (FB) = 8,600
A conservative estimate for our total monthly audience is 50,000+
So, a $350 sponsorship divided by 50,000 comes to .70 cents per audience member! Not 70 cents, but seven tenths of one penny!
And remember, this value is based on a minimum estimate of 5,000 downloads. Many if not most GenCon episodes end up with 10,000 - 15,000 listeners.
The main point here is to demonstrate that at any level of sponsorship, you are paying pennies (or fractions of pennies) on the dollar to reach a targeted audience of significant size!
NUMBER OF SPONSORS
We limit the number of sponsor ads to 4 for each GenCon or Essen panel episode.
Questions? Contact me!
I am happy to answer any questions you might have about our show, our rates, or any of the above. We’re willing to work with you on a deal that best suits us both. Feel free to contact me any time. Thanks for your interest.
Stephen Conway
email: stephen@thespiel.net
phone: 317-937-1046
twitter: @thespiel
boardgamegeek: sconway