Unsurprisingly, commercial inventory for the upcoming Super Bowl is attracting staggering amounts of money for Fox Sports. The network has reportedly sold a double-digit number of 30-second spots for over $8 million each, according to Mollie Cahillane of Sports Business Journal, vastly exceeding the average price of around $7 million per spot sold by CBS in last year’s Super Bowl.
While not all advertising inventory reached the $8 million mark, Fox has not yet disclosed the overall ad revenue for this year’s event. However, the number of spots sold at that price suggests that demand for commercial space during the Big Game has risen compared to previous years. In November, Fox officially announced that it had sold out of advertising inventory for the upcoming Super Bowl, with approximately 80-85% of slots filled by June during the company’s “upfront” presentation to advertisers.
A significant factor that enabled Fox to sell a large volume of inventory at high prices was a higher-than-usual number of advertisers dropping out of their original agreements, allowing the network to resell those spots for more. State Farm is one notable advertiser that withdrew its spot amid widespread criticism following the Los Angeles wildfires. According to SBJ, nearly 10 advertisers dropped out this year. Fortunately for Fox, the demand was so robust that they had advertisers ready to step in if others withdrew.
“What was unique to this Super Bowl, or this marketplace, was we had a lot more people that weren’t in the game at all, all of a sudden be like, no, no, I have to get in the game,” remarked Fox Sports ad executive Mark Evans according to SBJ. When Fox aired the same matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles two years ago, it generated nearly $600 million in ad revenue, and expectations are that this figure will rise significantly this time around.
