Whether it’s the Budweiser frogs, a sad Ikea lamp in the rain, or the famous Coors Light “with the twiiiiiins” soundbite, Super Bowl commercials seem to have a knack for snaking their way into the social mainstream.
Brands are willing to pay top dollar to be viewed on the world’s biggest stage. And this year, not much has changed: the cost of one 30-second is a whopping $5m.
The Super Bowl is the most expensive event… by far
In comparison, a 30-second ad during Game 7 of the 2016 World Series was just $500k. And the 2018 Oscars are expected to cost close to $2.6m per 30-second ad.
For more perspective: Nick Foles, the Eagles’ starting quarterback of Super Bowl LII, made a base salary this season of 5 times less than the average $5m 30-second Super Bowl ad airing on Sunday.
As a matter of fact, only 13 of the 100 players on either Super Bowl team exceeded $5m this season.
Why so expensive?
Bottom line is, the Super Bowl is the most-watched event on Earth. Over the last five years, the SB has averaged more than 111m viewers, and this year, many speculate viewership will break records. That has execs licking their chops.
Amazon, for instance, will run at least 2.5 minutes’ worth of commercials on Sunday at a cost of $25m.
Funny thing is, these commercials historically haven’t yielded measurable results: in 2014, Ad Age reported that 60% of Super Bowl ads didn’t boost purchases; another study found that 90% of viewers did not feel more encouraged to buy something after seeing it in during the SB.
But networks on the other hand…
Last year Fox made an estimated $1.44B hosting the Super Bowl, and this year, NBC has the rare opportunity to air both the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics in the same month, enticing advertisers with a package deal…
A deal that should see the Peacock network making close to $1.4B in ad sales alone when all is said and done.