Brands Choosing To Spend Ad Dollars On 2014 Sochi Olympics Over Upcoming Super Bowl

Combined with the start of the 17-day-long 2014 Sochi Olympics, some big brands like Subway "are choosing to opt out of the biggest night in TV" -- the Super Bowl, according to Richard Feloni of the NATIONAL POST. Subway CMO Tony Pace told Ad Age, "You can make an argument that the total cumulative audience across the Winter Olympics is actually bigger than what you are going to get in the Super Bowl." Nielsen reported that 108.4 million people watched the Super Bowl last year, with 90% of the audience in the U.S. The 2010 Vancouver Olympics drew an average of 24.4 million primetime viewers, and had 190 million people watch some of the games on one of NBC Universal’s networks, according to NBC. Real estate agency Century 21, which advertised in the past two big games, told Ad Age that "they would rather make an investment in an international audience." And Cars.com is "skipping the upcoming Super Bowl after six consecutive years" because they "don’t have a new campaign to justify the price tag" (NATIONAL POST, 11/5).