Football season is a delivery app season. As the 2026 NFL and college football seasons kick off, fans will be inviting friends and family over to watch the games, and they will be ordering the snacks and drinks to feed them. That gives brands a window through commerce networks to reach hungry fans on delivery apps, introduce new products, and help them plan the right mix for their guests.

Reaching shoppers on second screens

Delivery apps are a savvy network for advertisers looking to avoid, or enhance, saturated sports broadcasts.

Football dominates the TV ad market, which is exactly why the screen in the viewer's hand matters.

• The NFL alone represented 47.0% of US live sports TV ad spend in 2025, per MediaRadar, and another 9.8% went to NCAA football.

Meanwhile, 70% of Super Bowl viewers used multiple platforms while watching the game, according to an Adtaxi survey reported in EMARKETER.

Uber Eats built on that behavior directly, running multiple TikTok teasers ahead of its Super Bowl ad to drive interest in the lead-up to the game, EMARKETER reported. Delivery apps let advertisers reach that same anticipation twice: once when shoppers plan the watch party, and again when they place gametime orders after kickoff.

Quick turnaround

The planning window for sports watch parties is short, which compresses the time marketers have to influence the order.

Over two-thirds (68%) of respondents planning for these calendar moments shop for them within a week of the event, according to a recent study by EMARKETER and DoorDash that asked shoppers about the planning window for all calendar events, including holidays like Thanksgiving and big sports occasions like the Super Bowl.

For sports-viewing occasions specifically, planners were most often shopping for groceries, snacks/treats, and alcoholic beverages.

Ordering on apps for specific moments

Consumers ordering on delivery apps, on the whole, have different priorities than in-store shoppers, the EMARKETER/DoorDash study found.

Over half (57%) of delivery app shoppers in the survey said they shop mostly with a specific moment in mind. Only 18% of in-store shoppers said this.

Only about a third (36%) of delivery app shoppers said they shop with a mix of specific moments and routine restocking in mind, and just 7% said they mostly shop to restock items.

A quarter of in-store shoppers said they are mostly restocking, and 57% said they shop in-store with a mix of specific moments and routine restocking in mind, according to the EMARKETER/DoorDash survey.

Open to new products

Even though a higher percentage of delivery app orderers are planning for specific moments than in-store shoppers, they are still open to new brands in high numbers.

Fifty percent of delivery app shoppers said they were “very likely” to try a new brand or product, and another 32% said they were “somewhat likely” to try new brands when planning for specific moments, the survey found.

“Celebratory moments create a halo effect on shopper behavior, with consumers more flexible on budgets and more open to trying products outside their usual routines as they look to impress and elevate the occasion,” said EMARKETER analyst Suzy Davidkhanian.

In the coming weeks and months, advertisers can reach fans celebrating the return of football with a timely campaign, if the creative speaks to the moment.

“For marketers, capturing their fair share means standing out in a crowded field with creatives that help shoppers picture the product in the moment, showing up where discovery is happening across apps and social media, and making it easy to convert that inspiration into a seamless purchase,” Davidkhanian said.

This was originally featured in the Commerce Media Weekly newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribehere.