Super Bowl Ads – How much?!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
For a lot of people, the commericals during the game - in between the playing is what draws people to the TV to see which company will have the most creative ad. 100-million people are expected to watch the game on February 6th. It’s no shock that companies, who can afford it, bank on lots of eyeballs as they try to push their product. Some ads leave more of an impression than others. Remember when Mean Joe Greene accepted a Coke from a kid in the stands. Another famous one is when Joe Namath smiles like a little boy while Farah Fawcett covered his chin with Noxzema. There is no real data to measure it – but it is true that a good amount of people tune to just watch the commercials.
Channel 12 cashes in on Super Bowl
Here is a quick lesson on how advertising works during big nationally televised events. While Channel 12 is airing the game for CBS - they do not control the majority of the available commercial time. That chunk of time goes to the network and that is who drags in all that cash at $3-million per spot. That said, as the local station carrying the game, WPRI stands to make some money for sure. All available commercials on Channel 12 are sold out. GoLocal has learned there will be about 15-local commercials, meaning local advertisers who signed on and are paying big bucks.
General Manager Jay Howell says “It's the highest rated and highest priced spot we sell all year, but based on audience size it's a bargain". So what is a bargain? Well, Channel 12 does not reveal its advertising rates. But sources connected to the ad buying community tell me one commercial on Channel 12 is going for somewhere around $25,000 per spot. So if you do some quick math – Channel 12 rakes in a nice $375,000 in ad revenue during the game. And get this, if Tom Brady and the offense had not blown it against the Jets and the Pats were in the Super Bowl – Channel 12 could charge at least double for each commercial.
Ad Cost during the 1st Super Bowl
So while we are tossing numbers like $3-million here, $2.6 million there like its nothing, what did it cost to advertise during the first Super Bowl? Back in 1967, it was Kansas City against Green Bay in the first Super Bowl which was broadcast on NBC. People were shocked to hear that a :30 second commercial would cost a staggering - $37,500.
Nearly every year the cost of advertising during the Super Bowl has gone up compared to the previous year.
This year is no different at $3-million a pop.
Nice work if you can get it right?
Jeff Derderian is a former television news reporter and anchor both in Providence and Boston. He is one of the founders of the Station Education Fund. He can be reached at [email protected]
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