Super Bowl XLIV Ad Rates Falling For Only Second Time In History

The economic downturn has ad rates for spots during CBS' broadcast of Super Bowl XLIV "falling for only the second time" in the history of the game, but the event is "still the most expensive on television," according to Emily Fredrix of the AP. TNS Media Intelligence yesterday indicated that 30-second ads during the February 7 game are selling for $2.5-2.8M, which is a "drop from last year," when spots averaged $3M during NBC's coverage of Super Bowl XLIII. The only other year in which prices "declined was from 2006 to 2007, when 30-second slots dropped from" $2.5M to just under $2.4M. CBS Sports Exec VP/Sales & Marketing John Bogusz said of the net's ad sales compared to NBC last year, "We believe our pricing is similar and believe we are in a better sellout position than they were at this time going into the game." Last year's game brought in $213M in ad revenue "just for ads airing during the game, not pregame or post game," marking a 14% increase from Super Bowl XLII, when a 30-second spot cost $2.7M. Fredrix wrote it is "unclear how much revenue Super Bowl advertising will generate" this year for CBS. Only four of the 62 commercial slots "remained to be sold" for the game as of last Friday.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Northwestern Univ.’s Kellogg School of Management marketing professor Tim Calkins noted that during economic downturns, companies are "more likely to buy Super Bowl advertising when they want to make an impact by jumpstarting a brand or introducing themselves." TNS indicated that about 20-25% of Super Bowl advertisers each year "are new," and the "average tenure for advertisers is three to four years before dropping out." Calkins noted that advertising during the game is an "expensive proposition for companies like Pepsi and FedEx that would otherwise use the game to simply remind people they're still out there" (AP, 1/11). MEDIAWEEK's Anthony Crupi reported new Super Bowl advertisers are "flooding the zone," including Electronic Arts, which is "in for at least one spot." Meanwhile, Denny's "returns after its debut in last year's game, making a one-spot buy, while Teleflora is also expected to repeat" after advertising last year (MEDIAWEEK.com, 1/11). MARKETING DAILY's David Goetzl noted even as some companies "continue to return to the Super Bowl annually, there is still a significant amount of turnover that allows new ones to come in." TNS indicated that the Super Bowl since '05 "has included 30-plus different advertisers each year -- with up to one-quarter first-timers." Meanwhile, TNS indicated that the "network carrying the game is actually the leading advertiser, taking over 7 minutes to plug its programming each year." NBC last year "used 16% of all national ad time for house ads" (MARKETING DAILY, 1/11 issue).

WELCOME BACK: Volkswagen of America yesterday announced that it will premiere a 30-second spot during the third quarter of Super Bowl XLIV. The spot will debut a new approach to the Das Auto tagline and positioning, and marks the first step in a much larger multi-faceted campaign to increase consumer familiarity with all the new Volkswagen products on the road. The ad, which marks the first work created for Volkswagen by its new creative agency Deutsch L.A., represents the first time in nine years that Volkswagen has advertised during the Super Bowl (Volkswagen).