Why the week of the Big Game is prime time for marketers

HubSpot looked at email and website data* from the last three football championships and noticed something surprising: there's a big disconnect between what B2B marketers do during the Big Game week and how buyers actually behave.

A lot of marketing teams pull back, assuming inboxes are too crowded and attention is elsewhere. But the data shows the opposite. Buyers are actually more engaged during this stretch, which means less competition (and better results) for the marketers who keep showing up.

Marketers pull back while buyers lean in

Every year around the week of the Big Game, the same thing happens: B2B marketers hit the brakes. HubSpot's data shows email send volume drops by about 2.3% as teams pause campaigns and wait for the game-day noise to pass.

But here's the twist: buyers don't slow down with them. In fact, engagement goes up. Data from previous years shows in the week leading up to Sunday's game, email open rates climbed by a full percentage point, and click-through rates rose by more than half a point compared to a typical week. And the week of the Big Game ranks in the top 5 out of 52 weeks for email click-through and open rates.

The same story plays out on websites. Traffic jumps 7.5% as buyers keep browsing, researching, and comparing options, even while fewer marketing emails are showing up in their inboxes.

The engagement window extends beyond game day

The spike in engagement doesn't stop once the game is over.

HubSpot's data shows that buyer attention stays elevated into the week after the Big Game. Click-through rates remain nearly half a percentage point above average, and open rates stay up by about three-quarters of a point.

That sustained lift points to something bigger than a one-day bump. The event itself creates a halo effect, where buyers keep reading, clicking, and researching, even as many marketers are still slow to ramp back up.

The takeaway: you don't need to pack all your outreach into the week leading up to the game. The following week delivers many of the same advantages: lighter inbox competition and buyers who are still actively engaged.

Owned channels outperform paid

There's another shift that shows up clearly during the week, and it's about where performance comes from.

Paid ads tend to lose some steam during this window. HubSpot's data shows ad click-through rates dip slightly as attention gets pulled in a dozen directions. But owned channels tell a very different story. Email and website engagement actually get stronger.

That contrast matters, especially for teams watching their budgets closely. When a major cultural moment competes for attention, organic touchpoints (like emails and on-site content) cut through more effectively than paid ads. And with AI-powered tools helping marketers personalize messaging, optimize content, and scale their outreach, owned channels have even more room to outperform during high-opportunity windows like this one.

Instead of pushing more budget into ads, marketers can lean into email during this window and see better returns.

And this isn't a one-week anomaly. The same pattern holds during pre-game week and post-game week, giving teams flexibility to shift timing and channels without giving up performance.

The bottom line: Football championship season isn't a reason to go quiet, but a chance to be smarter. HubSpot's Loop Marketing playbook can help you identify which campaigns drove the strongest engagement and turn those insights into repeatable processes . Marketers who keep showing up in owned channels face less competition and more engaged buyers. In a crowded marketing calendar, that combination is hard to beat.

*Methodology: Analysis based on 56,876 US HubSpot Pro+ portals from January 2023 to December 2025.