Superbowl – Bucking the Trend of Television Advertising

With the Superbowl kicking off on Saturday, the 30 second spot has risen to a record $5.6 million this year. The major international event is holding up what is seen by many experts as a dying industry.

Earlier this week, the Superbowl ad was revealed as a play on Rick and Morty’s “Interdimensional Cable” routine which has featured twice in the popular television series. In the ad, Rick and Morty realise that they themselves are inside a Pringles ad and try to escape with Morty asking “how much did they pay for this” and Rick responding, “not enough”.

The ad has already grabbed the attention of millions of viewers worldwide before the Superbowl. Obviously, this gives them a great return on investment.

This highlights that the Superbowl prime spot has become revered and respected by advertisers the world over, much like at Christmas when advertisers fight for the most gripping Christmas ad (that pulls on your heart strings). The Superbowl has created this trend due to the number of fixed eyeballs it brings in every year. You can see the trends in this infographic by Betway NFL Lines.

Doug Gould, a marketing wizard at Heineken spoke to Betway:

“The [number of] eyeballs is primary.

“Again – it’s a guaranteed audience of X million – whatever that number is going to be this year.

“So that is the primary. The business of the business is the more eyeballs you get the more you should pay. So that part makes sense – that’s the technical answer. What’s the non-technical answer?

“What else drives price? The same thing that makes us buy $150 jeans or pay $100 for a hamburger that’s made of a particular cow that nobody’s heard of before that comes from Japan versus one that costs $15 – and you can’t tell a huge difference, other than someone says this is better.

Companies use the Superbowl to promote their presence to fans delight. Doug continues by commenting that research is pointing toward some of the younger fans being more interested in the half time show and annual “battle of the ads” than the game itself.