Sources: CBS To Charge Record-High $5M Per 30-Second Spot In Super Bowl 50

CBS for Super Bowl 50 next year "is likely to hit the market" with a rate of $5M for a 30-second spot, according to sources cited by John Ourand in this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. That price "would be a record high for Super Bowl advertising" and about 10% "higher than the rate card NBC used" this year. CBS already has been "talking to potential advertisers about creating a package around the game," and a number of units, "likely fewer than 15, already has been taken for next year." Anheuser-Busch has "committed to about 10 units as part of a long-term deal the company signed with the NFL that ends after next year’s game." Each 30-second spot "is a unit." CBS Sports Exec VP/Sales & Marketing John Bogusz said that he is "confident that the excitement surrounding the 50th Super Bowl will help bring more advertisers on board." CBS execs believe that their Super Bowl ad sales pitch was "helped last month when the network secured a one-year extension of its deal to produce 'Thursday Night Football.'" CBS "plans to offer Super Bowl ad packages that include both the network’s Thursday night and Sunday afternoon NFL schedules" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 2/2 issue).

MAKING THEIR MARK: In N.Y., Emily Steel writes the lesson from Super Bowl XLIX is that ads with puppies "continue to score with viewers while spots featuring a dead child are seen as a major fumble." Data collected by digital tracking firm Amobee shows that Budweiser's two ads led to the brand being "mentioned more than 234,000 times on social media during the game, with nearly half of the comments expressing a positive sentiment and many more neutral." Meanwhile, Nationwide was "mentioned more than 238,000 times on social media," but 64% of those comments were negative. Data from Kantar Media showed that NBC aired "48 minutes of ads during Sunday’s game." That "included about seven minutes of network promotions." Amobee said that the “Rookie of the Year” award "went to Skittles, which generated more than 85,000 social mentions, more than three times those for some other newbies" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/3). In Hartford, Dan Haar writes Loctite's ad "gained attention partly because the 30-second spot was the brand's Super Bowl debut and partly because it was a whimsical, dancing way to break up the fourth quarter tension that was building." While the spot "was a huge risk for Loctite," it "just plain works." Henkel VP/Consumers & Craftsmen Susanne Cornelius, whose company owns Loctite, said, "We are very proud to be recognized for our bravery to pitch ourselves in with the big names of the marketing world. We wanted people to talk about Loctite -- and now they do." (HARTFORD COURANT, 2/3). 

SERIOUS TONES: BLOOMBERG VIEW's Kavitha Davidson writes the NFL's first-ever Super Bowl PSA against domestic violence was a "powerful, chilling ad" that "stands above the rest." Davidson: "It still looks as though the NFL is trying to throw money at the problem, hoping to distract us with a high-profile ad that makes it look like the league is taking domestic violence seriously" (BLOOMBERG VIEW, 2/3). ESPNW’s Sarah Spain said many advertisers "took the time to say, ‘Who’s out there right now watching?’ Not just football fans, not just millions of people, but people who are aware what the NFL has gone through and are wondering exactly how the NFL is going to deal with its various issues.” Spain: “There was a lot more of a conscience in general to the ads this year and that reflected fans are a little bit more aware of that stuff now” (“Olbermann,” ESPN2, 2/2).

GAME BOYS: In DC, Todd Frankel writes mobile game companies that aired Super Bowl ads were "heralding their arrival to a wider audience." Financial services firm Cowen & Co. Senior Media, Entertainment & Gaming Analyst Doug Creutz said, "It’s an indicator of just how big the business has become. These are massively profitable companies." Frankel notes these companies "are not just spending on Super Bowl ads." Creutz said, "If you watch ESPN these days, it’s hard to not see an ad for Clash of Clans." Frankel writes the rise of gaming apps "has been so fast that many viewers reacted with surprise to the ads during the Super Bowl." Twitter "lit up with people curious to know how this was possible" (WASHINGTON POST, 2/3). 

PIE IN THE FACE: SPORTING NEWS' Jasmine Watkins noted Papa John's yesterday aired commercials that claimed the Seahawks had won their "second championship in a row." Watkins: "Mistakes happen ... but the strange part is that this is happening almost a full day after the game concluded" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 2/2). In L.A., Ryan Parker noted NFL Network and Esquire Network were among networks running the inaccurate spot (LATIMES.com, 2/2).