The Super
Bowl has become the pinnacle of advertisement real estate when it comes to live
television. Prices per 30-second ad spot have consistently increased every year
since 1967. This can be attributed to the rise in attendance to the Super Bowl
over these years and increased TV viewing. Because the Super Bowl only happens
one time per year it has become the biggest single viewed event on live
television. This makes it one of the most important locations for companies to
advertise their products.
Starting in
1967, the price of a 30 second ad spot during the Super Bowl was a measly
$40,000 and did not break $1 million until 1995. Since then prices has
consistently increased to the $5 million price tag a 30 second ad now has in
2016. This is a 12.5% increase from 2015 (4.5 mil), which was already a 12.5%
increase from 2014 (4 mil). This also does not include the cost to produce the
commercial, which can total almost another million dollars. All of this is
because of the increased number of viewers of the Super Bowl and the tradition
that now goes along with these commercials.
Super Bowl
audiences can range between 110 and 117 million viewers, with an average of
14.4 million viewers according to Ira Kalb (Huff Post). These commercials do
reach millions of people, but getting a product or message to stick a viewer is
incredibly hard. For large companies such as Coca Cola, or even car
manufacturers, it is much easier to have a commercial stick with a viewer
because they are very large, well known companies. In order for a smaller
business or product to stick in the minds of Super Bowl viewers the commercial
must be something new and exciting in order to draw in the audience.
Because ad
time during the Super Bowl is so expensive it is very important for companies
to show their commercials on other platforms, one of the most popular being
YouTube. According to Saqib Shah from Yahoo Finance, “In 2015, people watched the equivalent of
1,600 years of Super Bowl ads on YouTube, with 40 percent of that viewing time
taking place before game day. An additional 300,000 hours of ads were watched
online during the game itself.” This is extremely important to advertisers
during the Super Bowl because it allows their audience to see their ad multiple
times and across different platforms.
The cost to
make a Super Bowl commercial can vary greatly depending on who is in the
commercial and what the commercial is trying to promote. The lowest end being the
Doritos Time Machine commercials, which only cost about $200 to produce because
it was a fan submitted ad. On the high end, a Chrysler ad from 2011 starring
Eminem cost nearly 9 million to make. (Kalb) According to Jack Marshall from Digiday, the $4.5 million used to
purchase airtime during the Super Bowl could also be used to purchase 3.5
billion display ads, 50 million views on Facebook, and 6.4 million clocks on
search ads. Looking at the numbers next to each other it doesn’t seem like
having a Super Bowl Commercial is worth the expense, but yet every year more
businesses fight for Super Bowl ad space while the prices steadily increases.
Work Cited
Boyd,
Jimmy. "How Prices for Super Bowl Commercials Have Inflated Over the
Years." Boyd's Bets. BoydsBets, 25 Jan. 2016. Web. 07 Feb. 2016.
Groden,
Claire. "This Is How Much a 2016 Super Bowl Ad Costs." Fortune
This Is How Much a 2016 Super Bowl Ad Costs Comments. Fortune Magazine, 06
Aug. 2015. Web. 07 Feb. 2016.
Kalb,
Ira. "Super Bowl Ads Provide a Great Way for Advertisers to Waste $6
Million." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 20 Jan. 2016.
Web. 07 Feb. 2016.
Shah,
Saqib. "YouTube Gets Super Bowl 50 Ads Weeks before the Main Event." Yahoo
Finance. Yahoo Finance, 20 Jan. 2016. Web. 07 Feb. 2016.
According to Nielsen, Super Bowl 50 averaged a 49.0 household rating and peaked with a 51.0 household rating for the final 15 minutes (Kissell). This increase was due to the thrill of viewing the winning celebration and Peyton Manning being awarded for what could have been his last NFL game. This years Super Bowl did not beat last years game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, which averaged a 49.7 household rating.
ReplyDeleteThis year was the first year I gave all of my attention to the Super Bowl. There has been so much talk about the commercials during the game and at the price of 5 million dollars for 30 seconds, I did not think any were that great or memorable. It’s shocking to see the numbers shown of how much the price of 30 seconds has sky rocketed from the 1960’s to 2016 and even the 1990’s to 2016. Like Ivan stated, the commercials reach millions of viewers but getting the commercial to be memorable or talked about is the hard part. That is the problem I had with the commercials. In order for a commercial to stand out, they need something unique and different yet exciting and attention grabbing. A commercial that got a reaction out of me was Steve Harvey poking fun at his pageant mess up during a T-Mobile commercial, it definitely got a laugh from our Super Bowl viewing party and I’m sure it got laughs from tons of viewers.
According to the article, “Super Bowl Ads Provide a Great Way for Advertisers to Waste $6 Million,” CBS sold their 30 second commercial spots 11% higher than NBC did for last years game and NBC reached a larger audience. So the biggest question is why the big change? Marketers get to “bask in the spotlight” during the biggest television event and are able to reach the largest audience they ever have with the most entertaining commercial they can create. The commercials are very effective, “Many love to watch Super Bowl ads. Some watch the game jus to see the ads,” (Kalb). So I answer my previous question with another question. Since the networks are getting the money they are asking for, why wouldn’t they continue to raise the price? It’s not like they are ever going to stop airing commercials during the Super Bowl.
Since the popularity of Super Bowl ads continues to grow, YouTube has used its value to allow advertisers to get their TV advertisements online early. YouTube uses AdBlitz, a separate website, which allowed advertisers to upload clips of their Super Bowl 50 ads weeks before kickoff. According to Google, AdBlitz is a huge success. “In 2015, people watched the equivalent of 1,600 years of Super Bowl ads on YouTube, with 40 percent of that viewing time taking place before game day,” (Shah).
Overall, through the viewing of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, many fans thought the game was an upset due to the lack of intensity and competition between the Panthers and the Broncos. By the third quarter the game took a turn and many viewers like myself had lost interest watching the game. The lack of excitement made it seem like it was just a regular game and not one of the biggest nights in sports television. Companies that have their commercials aired early on during the program have a better shot at reaching more viewers as apposed to being aired towards the end of the program depending on the results of the game.
Work Cited:
Kalb, Ira. "Super Bowl Ads Provide a Great Way for Advertisers to Waste $6 Million." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 20 Jan. 2016. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.
Kissell, Rick. "Super Bowl 50 Ratings: CBS Delivers Second Highest Overnights Ever." Variety. N.p., 08 Feb. 2016. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.
Shah, Saqib. "YouTube Gets Super Bowl 50 Ads Weeks before the Main Event." Yahoo Finance. N.p., 20 Jan. 2016. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.
I am a big football fan, I watch my Jets lose almost every single weekend. Usually during the commercial breaks I do some homework, check my phone or get something to eat, regardless of what I’m doing I can assure you that I am not watching the commercials. They are usually the same commercials every week, but the Super Bowl is totally different. You don’t get generic, local ads for a car dealership. These ads aim to attract a national audience. I actually make people stop talking during its commercial breaks.
ReplyDeleteThe Super Bowl advertisements are just as much of the spectacle as the actual game. “Super Bowl ads are an event unto themselves,” says Saqib Shah of Yahoo Finance (Shah). For non-football fans, many of them love to watch because the ads are supposed to be funny and poignant. Huffington post writer Ira Kalb says, ““many love to watch Super Bowl ads. Some watch the game just to see the ads” (Kalb). To state the importance of them, last years Super Bowl only had 12 minutes of actual football being played. Including some pre/post game coverage the Super Bowl lasted over 5 hours and only 12 minutes of that was actually gameplay. Throughout the years it has become increasingly less and less about the actual game and more of everything surrounding the game (events, halftime show, commercials). Personally, I thought this years commercials were good. They were a solid mix of touching, humorous and witty. The marketers went with a PG and PC approach for Super Bowl 50. Nothing this year jumped out at me like previous years (GoDaddy, Carls Jr, “Magic Fridge”).
It’s interesting that we as consumers expect the best commercials the Super during the Super Bowl because companies are paying so much (5 million per thirty seconds) to get their message out there, so their commercials better be top-notch. Super Bowl commercials have produced some of the most important campaigns in marketing history, from Apple’s 1984 Macintosh launch commercial to mean Joe Greene drinking a Coca-Cola. It has become important for companies to not just show these commercials in their 30-second spot but also release them before the game on various mediums like YouTube. This is obviously a good business tactic to get your brand as much exposure as possible but to me it’s also a bit of a let down because I have seen a majority of the commercials before the Super Bowl. As previously mentioned these advertisements have to do something “special” to get fans attention. There is also a different view than Kalb’s, according to LA times writer, David Undercoffler, after Lexus’ Super Bowl ad last year they saw a “1,820% increase in searches on kbb.com, the biggest boost of any model on the site” (Undercoffler). Kia saw the biggest boost among automakers advertising during the Super Bowl, according to KBB.com, resulting in a 68% increase in searches (Undercoffler).
So overall, these expensive ideas are working, so like Sarah and Ivan said, the larger companies will continue to pay insane amounts of money for these ads because they are getting a good return on investment and they have a huge reach.
Works Cited:
Kalb, Ira. "Super Bowl Ads Provide a Great Way for Advertisers to Waste $6 Million." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 20 Jan. 2016. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.
Shah, Saqib. "YouTube Gets Super Bowl 50 Ads Weeks before the Main Event." Yahoo Finance. N.p., 20 Jan. 2016. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.
Undercoffler, David. "Mercedes, Lexus, Kia Score Big Wins with Super Bowl Ads." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 2 Feb. 2015. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.
Being a pretty big football guy, I surprisingly did not care about the Super Bowl at all this year. Before all of the inevitable gasps, I want to clarify that when I say "Super Bowl," I am referring to the 12 or so minutes of actual gameplay that is broadcasted, as Ben touched on. My Patriots lost in the AFC Championship game so I did not have a horse in this race. Therefore, what I was looking forward to was the halftime show and the commercials.
ReplyDeleteWe learned in class that CBS charged $5 million per 30-seconds for an ad to run during the Super Bowl. Knowing this, after watching these commercials I found myself thinking time after time "they spent $5 million dollars on THIS?!" Little did I know, "they" spent much more than that. Being an ex-Film and Television major, I was embarrassed how naive I was to forget about production costs. The average cost of casting, filming, editing and more costs, on average, roughly $1 million dollars for a Super Bowl ad (Kalb). Certain brands pay a much more handsome price, especially if they have celebrities involved. In 2011, a "Chrysler ad with Eminem cost $9 million to produce" (Kalb). If that ad was shown during this year's Super Bowl it would cost about $15 million total! I can't imagine how expensive this year's minute-long "Bud Light Party" spot with Amy Schumer, Seth Rogen, and a handful of other A-list celebrities was. Knowing these hefty prices, one would assume that "hey, if these brands are paying this much these Super Bowl ads must really help out their product!"
Nope! Not really. According to a post by Jack Neff in Ad Age, a study shows that 80 percent of Super Bowl ads don't improve sales (Kalb). These ads may help with temporary exposure, but they don't generate significant sales. Traditional media is still successful, but new media is becoming increasingly important. For example, YouTube.
YouTube's AdBlitz consolidates Super Bowl ads onto one single channel. This allows people to watch Super Bowl ads on YouTube on their own time. Personally, I love it. I am one of those people who can't hear commercials over the sound of a dozen chips crunching in my mouth so having a platform that lets me re-watch them when I am not devouring finger foods at a party is super convenient. Every Super Bowl, like clockwork, I check out AdBlitz the day before and the day after the Super Bowl just to see what all the fuss is about. And I'm not alone -- "in 2015, people watched the equivalent of 1,600 years of Super Bowl ads on YouTube, with 40 percent of that viewing time taking place before game day" (Shah). In today's day-in-age, individualistic millennials prefer to watch these ads on their own time and at their own convenience. YouTube claims that "advertisers that publish spots online before the Super Bowl accumulate 2.2 times more views than ads scheduled for game day" (Shah). If I'm an advertiser, I am 100% posting my commercial on YouTube before the Super Bowl -- or at least a sneak-peak of it. It's an absolute no-brainer. Once advertisers realize how viewing patterns have changed -- and how to utilize social media during the Super Bowl -- they will start turning profits more frequently.
- Phil Lentini
Works Cited:
Kalb, Ira. "Super Bowl Ads Provide a Great Way for Advertisers to Waste $6 Million." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 20 Jan. 2016. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.
Shah, Saqib. "YouTube Gets Super Bowl 50 Ads Weeks before the Main Event." Yahoo Finance. Yahoo! Finance, 20 Jan. 2016. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.
Gabrielle LaRosa
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am not fully interested in sports, the Superbowl is definitely one sporting event that I watch every year. For this year, I was extremely disappointed by the entire event. Between the extremely slow game and the horrible advertisements, I found myself to be sleeping by the second half of the game.
The ads are something that have been creeping up on us through out all forms of media as we've talked about in class. You can't scroll through your Instagram feed freely anymore with no chance of random ads popping up. Want to watch a Youtube video? Watch this 30 second ad first on something you aren't even going to pay attention to. In "Five Social Trends Marketers Won't be Able to Ignore in 2016" author Pineiro explains that the “Hotel California effect will change the game”, which means that “social networks are becoming closed systems where you can check out, but you can never leave. Snapchat doesn’t lead outside the network, Instagram barely does and Facebook is making every effort to keep users from heading outside of its walled garden. More alarmingly, Twitter users are increasingly hesitant to clink on links. The implications for marketers are enormous: brands will need to optimize for on-platform success and conversation, and minimize CTAs and the clickthroughs.”
Ads are becoming a norm for us in the media world and live broadcasted events such as the Superbowl are just one of the few times advertisements are usually over the top and most viewed. For this year, the ads weren't rememberable at all and truthfully were extremely boring. Pineiro explains that marketers "face a critical challenge, trying to find authentic ways to fit their brands into one-to-one messaging platforms without annoying their audiences."
In my opinion, the commercials that the brands put out were not creative or authentic in any way. Brands take advantage of the fact that live televised events such as the SuperBowl have some of the highest ratings, in which you even stated that has "an average of 14.4 million viewers according to Ira Kalb (Huff Post)". They feel that if their ads are played with 14.4 million viewers watching, their sales will expand and they will become more memorable to viewers. In "Super Bowl Ads Provide a Great Way for Advertisers to Waste $6 Million", writer Ira Kalb lists the main points on why brands feel that ads released during the SuperBowl will help with sales. He says that these ads "each a large audience, are entertaining and some people watch the game to just see the ads. They leverage an even larger audience, create a lot of jobs, and put the marketing profession on center stage." In a lot of ways, brands don’t take full advantage of the platform they have with their 30 second time spot for $5 million like they should be. Kalb explains that many brands “blow it by focusing on the entertainment value of the commercials and neglecting what should be the main focus- selling the product, the stock and everything else the company has to sell.” Viewers look forward to the commercials that are played during the Super Bowl, and honestly, past Super Bowls that have been dulled were truly only saved by the commercials that played during commercial breaks. For the 2016 Super Bowl, both main events, the actual game and the commercial breaks, did not live up to their full expectations.
Hopefully for next years Super Bowl, brands will try and take a different approach and use actual creativity with their ads, not just the Puppy, baby, monkey route like Mountain Dew did.
Works Cited:
Kalb, Ira. "Super Bowl Ads Provide a Great Way for Advertisers to Waste $6 Million." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 20 Jan. 2016. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.
Pineiro, Victor. "Five Social Trends Marketers Won't Be Able to Ignore in 2016." Advertising Age DigitalNext RSS. Ad Age, 16 Dec. 2015. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.
http://admeter.usatoday.com/results/2016
ReplyDeletehttp://superbowl-ads.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/ad_cost_chart_2013.jpg
I am a football lover, but may not be considered as a "fanatic." I love to watch the games and cheer for the teams, but I am not as obsessed and love the game as many other do. I do, however, love the Super Bowl. Of course I like the energy, excitement, and half time show, but my favorite thing is definitely the commercials. It is astonishing to me that advertisers pay over 5 million dollars just to have a 30 second add during the game. This shows just how much positive impact advertising has during the Super Bowl has on a company. In the article, "Super Bowl Ads Provide a Great Way for Advertisers to Waste $6 Million," the idea that the Super Bowl is good for advertisers is argued. The author states, "When you look at the data, Super Bowl ads are typically not very good investments" (Kalb, 2016). If this is true, then why do advertisers spend this massive amount of money to show their commercials during the game? Kalb then argues that, each a large audience, are entertaining and some people watch the game to just see the ads. They leverage an even larger audience, create a lot of jobs, and put the marketing profession on center stage" (Kalb, 2016). For the current Super Bowl, the ads focused more on the entertainment aspect as apposed to the actual brands. In doing this, audiences only remember the commercial but do not remember the brand and in tern does not positively impact the brand.
ReplyDeleteYouTube even tried to get in on the Super Bowl ads as well! They allowed advertisers to share their ads early through their AdBlitz platform. AdBlitz is an extremely beneficial ways of drawing an audience in. Author Saqib Shah explains, ""advertisers that publish spots online before the Super Bowl accumulate 2.2 times more views than ads scheduled for game day" (Shah, 2016). This platform was created just to stream these advertisements before the game and shows what a strong impact they have on an audience. Although this form of advertisement is not the main source of revenue for the brands and acts as a “second screen,” it is predicted that advertisers that, “publish spots online before the Super Bowl accumulate 2.2 times more views than ads scheduled for game day” (Shah, 2016). As streaming become more popular and ads are innovative and interesting to watch, more and more people will want to watch these ads online even before they are put on the big screen during the super bowl. Why? Audiences want a social event. They want to look to their buddy and say, “Oh watch this one it is hilarious,” or, “This commercial is not my favorite.” It gives the audience an inside look on what to expect in terms of commercials during the game, which creates great excitement and entertainment.
- Amy Levine
Kalb, Ira. "Super Bowl Ads Provide a Great Way for Advertisers to Waste $6 Million." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 20 Jan. 2016. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.
Shah, Saqib. "YouTube Gets Super Bowl 50 Ads Weeks before the Main Event." Yahoo Finance. Yahoo! Finance, 20 Jan. 2016. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.