Anheuser-Busch is putting the "finishing touches" on a
deal that will see it pay $20M for "exclusivity in the beer
category and 10 Super Bowl spots" -- $2M for each 30-second
commercial, according to Arndorfer & Ross of AD AGE. The A-
B spots on Fox's broadcast of Super Bowl XXXIII represent a
54% increase from the $1.3M which most advertisers paid last
year. The increase is 74% more than the $1.15M NBC
"insiders" said A-B paid for exclusive spots during Super
Bowl XXXII. A-B and Fox declined comment on the report, but
Arndorfer & Ross note a source close to the deal said that
A-B was "forced to the mat" by NFL sponsor Miller Brewing.
In the past, Miller has run pre-and-post game ads, but this
year, through its media-buying Starcom Media Services, the
source said that Miller decided on a "very smart strategy:
that it would either get on the [Super Bowl] or make it
very, very expensive" for A-B. Miller last year inked a
four-year, $300M partnership with Fox. But while Fox "would
love" to use the $2M as a "benchmark" for what it can charge
for a 30-second Super Bowl spot, most media execs said such
a plan would be "problematic" (AD AGE, 4/13 issue).
