10 Million for a Super Bowl Commercial?

This year the price of an ad that will run during the Super Bowl increased $500,000 or 12.5% from last year (Smith, 2015, para. 1). Companies are now buying the spots at $4.5 million (Smith, 2015, para. 1). Seth Winter, an NBC executive, said 95% of the ad inventory for 30-second spots have already sold (Smith, 2015, para. 1). What made headlines was the fact that Winter said this asking price was actually a “steal for advertisers” (Smith, 2015, para. 1). The reason for this is that with online views, and other PR around the advertisement the actual value is around $10 million (Smith, 2015, para. 1).  

“We did an analysis around last year’s Super Bowl that Fox ran, and our analysis showed that with all of the video distribution pre- and post-game, the value of the PR, the value of all of that which advertisers used to activate around their investment that it reached a very solid good foundation number of $10 million” (Smith, 2015, para. 2).

(Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQB7QRyF4p4 )

The Super Bowl is important for advertisers, as it is a time when viewers actually tune in to see ads. Viewers even have a strong brand recall after seeing these ads (Smith, 2015, para. 5). When an ad is seen during the Super Bowl it can then be passed around on social media, viewers can re-watch it on YouTube, and media coverage can spread the ad even more. For example, Budweiser’s “Puppy Love” ad has almost 55 million views on YouTube (Smith, 2015, para. 6). Therefore, even though this year’s price for a 30-second spot has increased from last year, it is a 44% discount on what the “fair base price of a 30-second spot ought to be” (Smith, 2015, para. 11).

I definitely agree with Winter’s comments on the value of a Super Bowl ad. Not only do people talk about the ad after it is shown, but if the ad is liked by many viewers it is remembered well after that year’s Super Bowl. For instance, one of my favorites was the following Volkswagen commercial. 

(Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIMWeKO5U8o )

The video went viral in 2012, but yet three years later I am still talking about it with my friends.

Smith, Chris. (2015, Jan. 16). Could A Super Bowl Commercial Really Be Worth $10 Million? Surprisingly, Yes. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2015/01/16/could-a-super-bowl-commercial-really-be-worth-10-million/