Last Sunday I attended a discussion about the Super bowl, which made me think about the marketing and advertising of the Super bowl. Most international students understand the important role that sports play in American culture. Since, more often than not every country has a sport that majority of the country’s population follows and identifies with. Therefore, the importance of the football in American culture is similar to all other nations in the world. The Super bowl is the most significant football event of the year. However, something that baffles many international students including myself is the amount of money a super bowl advertisement is worth. Is it really worth spending 5 million (or more) on a 30 second spot?
The super bowl reaches an audience of approximately 110 million viewers. The biggest cinematic blockbuster from 2016, Rogue One, only sold about 55 million tickets. In terms of cultural reach, football’s championship game is twice the size of the biggest blockbuster. Therefore, maybe it is worth it to spend $5 million on a 30 second spot. However, this does not benefit all companies that advertise during the super bowl. Personally, I would argue that new companies and products that people haven’t heard of before would get the most return on the $5 million dollar investment, because millions of people are hearing about them for the first time.
However, if a reputed company uses the Super bowl to advertise their current products and services this would not provide them a good return on their investment since millions of people watching the Super bowl have already heard and seen their brand promotions before. Thus, the $ 5 million dollar investment would not benefit the firms that already have a certain reputation and stature.
The Super bowl’s remarkable reach definitely benefits the new companies and products that are advertising for the first time since it allows you to reach such a large proportion of America’s population. Yet for established brands and firms the Super bowl is not worth spending $5 million dollars on in the long run. Therefore, it is only worth spending $5 million dollars if you’re a company that’s never been heard of before, if you’re an established brand it is not worth spending $5 million.
I agree that it seems a bit ridiculous for a company to spend $5 million on a 30 second advertisement and I am not sure if the payoff is at all worth it. The prime time would greatly benefit newly established companies, however I doubt they would have excessive money to spend on a Super Bowl ad!
I also think that the advertisements during this time slot is more than just introducing new products or companies. Because watching the ads has become such as integral part of our society, at least as much as the game itself, advertising during the game garners buzz about a company among the people. Especially as this year’s commercials were so politicalized, I think companies like Airbnb did benefit from the audience’s reactions, such as its trending on Twitter. Again, I’m not sure if it is worth $5 million, but it is something to think about!
I agree with your point of view Deepika! I think this year definitely was very different from the previous years and it changed how we should think about this issue. But yes definitely not worth $5 million.