My Daddy is about to be really impressed because this is the second blog posting of mine whose topic stems from his favorite game of football (See previous post from last year: Football, Promotional Products, and the Stories They Tell). And even if I may never fully enjoy watching a game on television at least I can appreciate its contribution to the world of marketing – and my job. But I digress…
So last night the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts to become the 44th Super Bowl champions. But enough about the actual game (maybe Daddy won’t be so impressed after all). Though more than 90 million viewers watch the game annually, recent reports say that half of these viewers may be tuning in to watch the ads during the commercial breaks rather than the Bowl itself. In fact, a survey of more than 25,000 households by the Nielsen Company – a major marketing and media information company that produces the Nielsen ratings, the main source of audience measurement information in the television industry worldwide – showed that 51% of those surveyed said they enjoy the commercials aired throughout the game, more than the game.
The Super Bowl has become known almost as much for its high-profile advertisements as for the sport competition. The high number of viewers promised has led to high price tags – this year, the cost for 30-seconds of air time averages to $3.01 million – and the high price tag has led to ads that are generally innovative, humorous, and in some way highly memorable as the purchasers try to get the most out of the expensive cost for that brief air time.
Here is a secret for all the companies out there that cannot quite afford the $3+ million dollar price tag for a Super Bowl commercial: the average cost per impression (CPI) for promotional products, that is the cost of an item based on the number of times it is used per month and the average number of people with whom the user comes in contact, is cheaper than the cost per impression of a 30-second Super Bowl ad. $3.01 million divided by 90 million viewers equals $0.033. The CPI for a promotional product – $0.004 (as determined by the Advertising Specialties Impressions Study published in November 2008).
I am in no way, however, trying to discourage companies from paying the extreme price tags for Super Bowl ads if they can afford it, because they certainly do provide my entertainment throughout the game.
You can check out more commericals at http://superbowlads.fanhouse.com/2010
Haha I liked that commercial, too.. My favorites were the eTrade ones with the babies, though- “Milka-whatttt?”