By: Chris Tulley
The NFL season is finally here and fans across the country are ready to support their favorite teams and players. The season began on Thursday, September 9th at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coming off a 2021 Super Bowl win, opened up with a win against the Dallas Cowboys.
Unlike last year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers opened the season in front of a sold out crowd. With COVID-19 restrictions decreasing and stadiums opening up their doors to fans, there is a growing excitement around the league as things start to get back to “normal.” Not only are fans excited, but also businesses who spend countless dollars on marketing campaigns.
The Super Bowl is notorious for its advertisements allowing brands to get 30 second time slots for millions dollars. Due to the pandemic, Super Bowl LV saw a major decrease in advertising costs and also saw many “powerhouse” brands not participate in commercial advertising. Companies like Coca Cola, Anheuser-Busch, Ford, Hyundai, and Facebook all declined to generate a commercial advertisement for Super Bowl LV. Many of these brands declined due to the fact of the uncertainty revolving around the pandemic and a decreased fan attendance. In order to secure a 30 second commercial time slot, brands had to pay the rate of $5.5 million dollars, which declined from the previous year’s rate of $5.6 million dollars.
Even though Super Bowl LV saw a decline in advertising campaigns and had a decrease in price for a time slot, that is most definitely not the case for Super Bowl LVI. In fact, Super Bowl LVI is breaking records when it comes to advertisements. NBCUniversal just recently announced that they are selling 30 second ad slots for a record breaking $6.5 million dollars. Not only is Super Bowl LVI breaking records by over a million dollars in sales, but NBC Sports also announced that they are almost sold out of time slots. NBC Sports advertising sales chief Dan Lovinger said, “We have seen demand exceed our remaining inventory available, but we have obviously been fairly choosy and are working with that inventory to make the most of it.”
This is good news as it shows that advertisers are spending money again as the world slowly recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. With businesses starting to open back up, vaccine rates increasing, and sports allowing fans back into stadiums, brands will continue to spend record breaking numbers on advertising and marketing campaigns.