Posted by truecreek on January 12, 2010 under More Dam News | 
By Julia Boorstin, CNBC Correspondent
The Super Bowl is now less than a month away, and it’s not just football fans who are getting geared up. Advertisers and media giants are carefully watching this year’s super bowl as a barometer of the health of the advertising economy.
First the bad news: the carefully watched cost of a 30-second spot is down this year. Advertisers are paying $2.5 million to $2.8 million, down from $3 million a year ago, according to a TNS Media Intelligence report issued today. This is only the second time in Super Bowl history that ad pricing has dropped from one year to the next.
Pepsi , the number two Super Bowl advertiser over the past two decades, will not buy a spot in the broadcast for the first time in 23 years. General Motors, which was a major advertiser for the event until it dropped out last year, will not advertise again this year. Ditto for Fed Ex, which last year sat out the event for the first time in 12 years.
The good news: CBS reports that it’s sold out nearly every one of its 62 available ads, which puts it in a stronger position than NBC was in at this point last year. Even though the price for a 30-second commercial is lower, the price of an ad has still more than quadrupled in the past 20 years. And while advertisers always drop out, newcomers always join, accounting for 20 to 25% of the advertisers.
The fact that nearly all of CBS’ ad inventory is sold a month before the event indicates that demand is coming back.
While the lower ad rate isn’t great, many of last year’s ads were sold before the financial crisis really took hold, so last year’s rates may not take into account the full decline before the 2009 Super Bowl. We’ll see how long it takes to sell the final few ads, and we’ll see if some new mega brands emerge to replace stalwarts like GM and Pepsi.
Posted by truecreek on October 8, 2009 under More Dam News |
An earlier post spoke to the great numbers being delivered by sports programming. Looks like it might just lead the way coming out of this thing….
By Brian Steinberg
CBS is close to selling out approximately 80% of its ad inventory for Super Bowl XLIV, according to a person familiar with the situation, a sign that the sports-advertising marketplace may be recovering more quickly than other TV venues.
CBS is still hesitant to force a price point into its discussions but has sought between $2.5 million and $3 million for a 30-second spot in the game, according to this person. As usual, the price hinges on the position of the ad within the telecast as well as whether advertisers want to get more involved with the event by buying up pre-game time or other CBS sports inventory. CBS is expected to broadcast the game from Miami on Feb. 7, 2010.
The pace of sales emphasizes marketer interest in big-audience sporting events. Already, sales for NFL and college-football games at many networks have garnered better-than-expected interest, particularly as cash-strapped consumers stay at home and rely more heavily on televised entertainment.
NBC’s first several “Sunday Night Football” broadcasts of the season, for example, have been ratings bonanzas, and CBS has seen substantial advertiser interest in its college football games. ESPN scored the highest-rated cable event in history for its “Monday Night Football” game between the Vikings and the Packers this week, thanks to widespread interest in the return of Brett Favre. Marketer interest in the events has also been fueled by the fact that viewers often watch them live, rather than fast-forwarding through content — and past ads — with digital video recorders.
Posted by truecreek on January 28, 2009 under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
If you have a cool $3 or $4 million, you can pick up one of the remaining 3 or 4 Super Bowl spots out there. I can’t remember the last time that the Super Bowl wasn’t sold out so close to the game….that being said, NBC will still probably set a record for total cash brought in by the spots.
