NBC Claims To Have Lost $45M On Super Bowl XLIII Broadcast
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Sources Suspicious NBC Lost Money On
Super Bowl After Record $206M In Ad Sales |
NBC is claiming it lost $45M on its Super Bowl XLIII broadcast "despite monster ratings and a record $206[M] in ad sales," according to earnings reports cited by Holly Sanders Ware of the N.Y. POST. Industry sources are "suspicious that NBC actually lost money on the Super Bowl, which commands the highest ad rates in television," as some suggested that parent company GE is "writing off a chunk of NBC's losses on its NFL contract, attributing them to the Super Bowl." The Super Bowl is "part of the multi-year package that a network negotiates" with the NFL, and the major networks "rarely, if ever, break out the financial results for the Super Bowl." Pilson Communications President Neal Pilson: "In the last 20 years, I don't recall a broadcaster releasing a profit-and-loss statement for the Super Bowl." Ware noted some industry sources "wondered if GE singled out the Super Bowl in its earnings to send a message about steep rights fees, especially in such a severe ad downturn." Meanwhile, NBC Universal for Q1 posted $391M in profit, down 45.1% from $712M in the year-ago period. Revenue for Q1 fell 2% to $3.52B (N.Y. POST, 4/18). REUTERS' Paul Thomasch noted NBCU's decline in profit "may put it smack in the middle of major media companies." NBC Universal President & CEO Jeff Zucker in a staff memo said that profit "would have been down a more modest 15% if not for several one-time events," including the "fees it paid to the [NFL] for the broadcast" of the Super Bowl (REUTERS, 4/18). An NBC spokesperson said of the losses attributed to the Super Bowl, "The reality is this is simply a function of accounting timing, nothing more" (THE DAILY).
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