Welcome to Tuesdata, our weekly look into the most interesting data from the media and marketing industry.

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Last weekend saw the AFL Grand Final play out with a commanding win for the Geelong Cats, while the coming weekend will see the Penrith Panthers take on the Parramatta Eels on Sunday for the NRL Grand Final. 

In previous years that would have meant a detailed look at which marketers had decided to spend significant brand dollars around the major sporting events, and today’s environment is no different, with one exception. 

One of the major sectors you can bet on (pun intended) spending big on marketing around the finals is betting and wagering. 

The cosying up of betting companies to media owners, the growth of the sector, the new brands emerging, as well as the social and political ramifications of the sector’s progress continue to be significant talking points both in the trade media as well as the media in general. 

A crunch point is arriving when sports will have to take a serious look at whether it continues to accept the dollars being thrown at it by betting and wagering companies, and for that matter, alcohol and vaping companies as well. 

But let’s not go too far into the murky waters of what is right and wrong with sports advertising and marketing. That’s a deep hole that will be a struggle to climb out of.

Instead, let’s focus on betting and wagering, and the spend statistics according to Nielsen Ad intelligence for August, a key lead up period to the two footy grand finals. 

In all, total spend for the category last month was $20,231,000.

The list is a solid mix of established and new brands. Below are the top five according to spend.