You might not know the nation’s economy is in a downward spiral based upon the cost of a 30-second ad during Super Bowl XLIII. Advertisers will dole out a record $3 million for every 30 seconds of air time to showcase their products and services during the telecast.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the $3 million mark has never been the starting price for a commercial at the Super Bowl, though individual slots have sold for that much before, the report said.
Prices to buy a 30-second spot for the 2008 Super Bowl averaged $2.7 million. Eighty percent of ad inventory for Super Bowl XLIII was sold last year, according to a September 2008 report on CNN.com.
As of January 19 of this year, NBC reported it has sold 90% of its 67 ad spots for the NFLs championship game and is “on pace or ahead of past Super Bowls,” adding that NBC is “in active negotiations with about a dozen potential advertisers,” according to USA Today.
Two of the nation’s biggest companies, FedEx and General Motors, will not buy ad spots this year. FedEx blamed the economy, while GM said the timing was just wrong.
More directly, Congressional leaders strongly suggested GM shouldn’t buy ad space for this year’s Super Bowl in the wake of the $15 billion bailout to rescue the U.S. auto industry in 2008.
The average price of a 30-second spot crossed the $1 million mark in 1995 and passed $2 million in 2000, according to TN’S Media Intelligence.
Many of last year’s advertisers will continue to run ads for the 2009 game, including Coca Cola and PepsiCo; automobile manufacturers Audi and Hyundai, and tire manufacturer Bridgestone.
Other return advertisers include GoDaddy.com and E*Trade Financial; the pet food company Pedigree, and Anheuser-Busch, which is running 4.5 minutes worth of spots, a half-minute more than last year.
Additional advertisers include Toyota, Castro Motor Oil, Teleflora, Monster.com, Universal Pictures, Sony and CareerBuilder.com.
[...] and so much for the “economic woes” — MoonDog reports that Super Bowl ads this year are still costing $3 million for every 30 seconds of [...]
[...] morning, an interesting blog concerning advertisements during the Super Bowl caught my eye. This blog on Moon Dog Sports states that “advertisers will dole out a record $3 million for every 30 seconds of air time [...]
[...] The Economy is effecting the Super Bowl < Moondog Sports [...]