NBC 95% Sold Out Of Super Bowl Inventory, Expects Ad Space To Be Gone By Kickoff

With less than four weeks before Super Bowl XLIX kicks off in Arizona, NBC Sports Group is saying that its game telecast is 95% sold out. The network is getting a record high $4.4-4.5M per 30-second spot for the game, despite an ad-sales market that NBC Sports’ top sales exec termed as "rough." NBC Sports Exec VP/Sales & Sales Marketing Seth Winter yesterday on a conference call said, "It’s been a little slower to unfold, relatively speaking. We expect to be sold out by the time the kickoff takes place in Phoenix.” This year’s game will see 15 new advertisers -- many of them in the digital space -- that are making up for a shortfall in the auto category. Auto spots numbered in the “mid-20s” in '12 for Super Bowl XLVI, the last one NBC carried. This year, the number of auto spots is in the low teens. The technology and wireless categories also came in weaker than expected for this year’s game, Winter said. Movies, malt beverage, insurance, soft drinks, gaming (apps) and QSRs were strong categories. NBC’s good ad sales performance is not limited to just the game. NBC’s postgame show is virtually sold out, and its pregame show is close to selling out; both will be sold out by the Feb. 1 game, Winter said. NBC's digital business has "virtually doubled" since '12.

NFL'S PROBLEMS NOT IMPACTING SALES: Winter said only one advertiser cited the NFL’s domestic violence problems this season as a reason for not buying time during NBC's broadcast. "We have not heard that from anyone else, either in the regular season or the postseason,” he said. "Once the NFL aggressively took the action they took, a lot of advertisers felt that there was a decisive proactive action being taken. We didn’t see any loss of ad revenue in terms of their investment." Winter would not identify the advertiser, only saying, “There was one person early on who got a little bit queasy about it.”