Fox, the US television network that according to the traditional alternation between networks will broadcast the Super Bowl on Sunday, announced this week that it has sold all the commercial spaces planned for the final of the American football championship, which this year will be played in Glendale, in Arizona, between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
The networks that alternate in broadcasting the event have used to sell all the commercial spaces set up for the Super Bowl from time to time, for decades, but it happens that in some particular years, such as 2021, the slots are decreased due to less demand, or that the collection is lower. Since last year, however, sales have returned to pre-pandemic levels, the same as unmatched in any other sport.
The NFL Super Bowl remains the single most-watched event in the United States, not just in sports. Of the thirty most-watched telecasts in American television history, 28 are Super Bowl editions. That’s because football is the sport most popular in America for more than fifty years, having largely surpassed baseball, and unlike the other three major leagues (MLB, NBA, NHL) its title is awarded in a single event, and not with a series of games.
The highest average attendance is still that of 114 million recorded in 2015 for the Super Bowl won in the last quarter of the game by Tom Brady’s New England Patriots. Last year, however, it was back above 100 million again after the drop recorded in the 2021 edition organized in Tampa Bay with the restrictions due to the pandemic.
L’ultimo Super Bowl al SoFi Stadium di Los Angeles (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Even in the most complicated years, however, the Super Bowl is the most coveted event by advertisers, who compete to grab advertising space of any kind. Many of the most remembered commercials in history – often circulated in Italy as well – were made on the occasion of a Super Bowl, like the one directed by Ridley Scott for Apple in 1984.
In short, the sale of advertising space can say a lot about consumption and trends among the US public, and consequently also something about the global market. Last year, for example, the presence of online travel agencies was particularly noticeable, in conjunction with the easing of restrictions on international travel, and cryptocurrencies, with companies in the sector at the time experiencing rapid growth such as FTX, Crypto and Coinbase.
One year later, cryptocurrencies have completely disappeared from Super Bowl advertising sales, and it is no coincidence that 2022 has been a terrible year for the sector, marked in particular by the recent bankruptcy of FTX.
Instead, there has been an increase in the promotion of alcohol. Since 1989 Anheuser-Busch, the group that owns the Budweiser, Michelob, Stella Artois and Beck’s brands, has always been the sole advertiser at the Super Bowl for the alcoholic beverages industry. From this year it will no longer be: it has still bought the largest number of slots, but there will also be other groups, such as Heineken, which is generally more linked to football and motor sports.
The NFL has also prepared special spaces for the advertising of betting agencies, a rapidly growing sector after the 2018 ruling with which the United States Supreme Court annulled the ban on betting in professional sports, until then granted only in some exceptional cases, such as in the state of Nevada. The analysts they argue that Sunday’s Super Bowl could generate a turnover of more than a billion dollars, an increase of 16 percent compared to the last edition. If so, it would become the most-played sports event by punters in US history.
Lo State Farm Stadium di Glendale (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Actors and well-known personalities involved in the making of the commercials will include Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul of Breaking BadJack Harlow e Missy Elliott per Doritos, Paul Rudd per Heineken, Serena Williams, Brian Cox e Canelo Alvarez per Michelob Ultra, Adam Driver per Squarespace e Ozzy Osbourne per Workday.
Standard thirty-second slots sold for an average of $6 to $7 million each. Fox had already sold all the commercial slots foreseen during the game last September, while in recent weeks it has finished assigning those foreseen in the programming hours preceding and following the event. Last year, NBC had approximately $636 million in ad revenue, $578 million of which came from in-game commercials alone. From this edition Fox should get the same.
The traditional show at halftime also affects the commercial sales of the Super Bowl, a moment awaited and followed also by the public less connected to football. this year theHalftime Show it will no longer be sponsored by Pepsi, but by Apple Music, while rapper Jay-Z’s Roc Nation company, artistic partner of the championship, has chosen Rihanna as main artist. No other appearances have been announced so far, and Rihanna could therefore perform alone as Lady Gaga already did in 2017. However, the singer has hinted that she could have a “special guest”.
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