Focused Advertising

The real money will come when leagues offer multiple streams on multiple platforms, Berke said. So, for instance, fans at home will be able to personalize their viewing, picking camera angles or commentary. Most importantly, that allows for advertisements tailored to individual users as well as the network.

“Digital is going to be a critical component of reaching that $25 billion goal,” said Berke, founder of LHB Sports, Entertainment and Media Inc.

Advertisers are committing more of their budgets to digital platforms, according to Leika Kawasaki, co-author of a study by Strategy Analytics, a global research and consulting firm.

Advertising spending in the U.S. will be about $187 billion this year. Digital is about 28 percent of that, or $53 billion, and growing at a rate of 13 percent this year. Digital is the fastest-growing category, the report said. Advertising on social media will see the most growth at 31 percent, followed by video at 29 percent and mobile at 20 percent.

Shifting Revenue

By 2018, TV’s share of ad revenue will fall to 40 percent, while digital’s will grow to 35 percent, the report said.

“Advertisers love it,” the NFL’s Miller said of digital opportunities. “The demand we get from sponsors is ‘let me tell my story across platforms.’”

Leo Hindery, chairman of InterMedia Partners LP, said he’s skeptical that digital will yield riches because the league won’t do anything to upset a traditional TV model that this season generated about $6 billion in revenue.

“You’ve got an absolute fortune invested in television by the four networks,” Hindery said.

NFL content is helping not only the league but partners like ESPN, which pays about $1.9 billion a year for “Monday Night Football.”

The Walt Disney Co.-owned network said it reached 23.1 million people in the U.S. daily across devices in December, up from 6.2 million a year ago. Moreover, 61 percent of ESPN’s unique users -- about 53 million people -- exclusively accessed content on smartphones and tablets. That bodes well for ESPN and the NFL, said John Kosner, the network’s executive vice president of digital and print media.