Like Everything Else, Super Bowl 56 Ads Are Almost Sold Out

Clock it: Roughly four months before kickoff, the first ad announcement for Super Bowl 56 is in the books. Is that too early? As anyone concerned about supply chain-related shortages in the coming months can tell you, getting ahead of the rush isn’t such a bad idea. In the middle of a pandemic-plagued, fan-less 2020-21 season, the National Football League renewed its sponsorship deal with Intuit and its TurboTax brand. The tax preparation software provider has been a fixture at eight consecutive Super Bowls, and it’s getting ahead of tax season once again at Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13 with help from Wieden+Kennedy. And while Intuit may be first out of the gate with an official announcement, it's far from the only brand to lock in its Super Bowl spot: Five months before the game, NBC said only “a few” ad slots remained. Most Consumers Bemoan Brands That Release Their Super Bowl Ad Early When selling its Super Bowl inventory, NBCUniversal had some considerable leverage when it comes to one of the big audience draws on linear TV and streaming services: live sports. The network offered Big Game slots as part of a Once in a Lifetime sports package. Advertisers could buy across a lineup of events including two Olympic Games (summer in Tokyo and winter in Beijing), Super Bowl 56 and the 2022 World Cup, airing on NBCUniversal's Telemundo. During that run on ad inventory, most Super Bowl advertisers also bought spots for one of the other big sporting events. The 2022 Super Bowl will be the fourth that NBC has broadcast within the last decade. Because the Super Bowl changes networks each year, brands don't always get an early jump on ads for the Big Game. However, Fox announced last month that it's opened up sales for Super Bowl 57 ads in 2023 largely because 2022's supply is so scarce. “Super Bowl ads are always on your radar if you're a big brand,“ said Tony Pace, CEO of The Marketing Accountability Standards Board who served as global chief marketing officer for Subway from 2012 to 2015. “While it may not be public until it's time, I bet you there were deals in place for the Super Bowl right after this year's game, and probably even before this year's game for next year's game.” Playing the game NBC’s Super Bowl is sandwiched between the end of the Tokyo games on Aug. 8 and Beijing’s opening ceremonies less than six months later on Feb. 4. That short timetable, advance purchasing and package deals are just some of the reasons that NBC claims 85% of its Super Bowl ad supply sold out by mid-July. It also may be creating opportunity for brands seeking those huge audiences. "You're going across calendar years, but usually in budgeting and marketing planning, you prefer if events were a little more spread out," Pace said. "The question is, if they aren't spread out, how do you afford them? And I think that's being a little bit complicated." According to Adam Holt, svp at sports marketing analytics firm FanAI, brands don't impulse buy Super Bowl and Olympic ads. His firm looked at five years of brand data across multiple sports to see how an event’s broadcast, streaming, social media and other offerings translate to audiences and sales. Even when NBC offers packages for tentpole events like the Super Bowl and the Olympics—and their large audiences—there’s still room to negotiate. The benefits of the early bird ad buys for brands are fairly obvious, Holt said, noting that reduced prices and more generous packages tend not to be available as slots fill up. The ability to bring historical data to bear on Super Bowl ad negotiations gives brands the clarity of knowing whether clients are “getting away” with good deal. Conversely, the foresight gives marketers the latitude to tweak a costlier offering, said Holt, whose FanAI clients include brands like American Express, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. Super Bowl 56 Halftime Show Won’t Have Just One Headliner—It’ll Have 5 A buyer’s market? As evidenced by the pandemic-ravaged 2021 Super Bowl ad lineup, more companies are realizing they have leverage to negotiate Big Game deals. After large Super Bowl advertisers including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Anheuser-Busch InBev trimmed ad spend during the pandemic, analytics firm Kantar Media noted that 26 first-time advertisers rushed in to fill their place. Vroom.com, Mercari, Klarna, Oalty and Dr. Squatch bought ads that, according to Kantar partner Alfredo Troncoso, are 20% more effective at driving brand perception than standard campaigns. They also may have gotten a head start on their 2022 competitors. “Every year when they're selling Super Bowl ads, [the networks] essentially start with the incumbents from the previous year,” Pace said. “Now, there's always back and forth about what's the price going to be. But when you cut a deal multiple years in advance, you know what your pricing is. You feel pretty good when you see that the thing is going up at a factor that's much greater than was factored into your pricing.” NBC Has Only ‘a Few’ Super Bowl 56 Ad Units Left, 5 Months Before Game Keeping everyone happy By packaging Super Bowl rights with Olympic rights, however, NBC may have offered a discount to some of its more established advertisers as well. Procter & Gamble, for example, is a Super Bowl fixture that just happens to double as a worldwide partner for the Olympic Games. With four years of Olympic sponsorship costing up to $300 million, P&G and others (including Coca-Cola, Airbnb, Toyota) get first right of refusal for any new broadcast deal on the table. Basically, if NBC wants to shop that package to competitors like Unilever, PepsiCo, Vrbo or General Motors, it has to go through the Olympic partners first. Considering that NBC has rights to the Olympics through 2032 and P&G is signed on as a partner through at least 2028, it may pay to play nice. “Sounds like NBC [is] setting the bar, and P&G will negotiate what they need,” said Greg Via, who spent 14 years as P&G’s vice president of global sports marketing. “P&G will make the buy that makes financial sense no matter what NBC says. Both sides will figure it out.” Intuit TurboTax Is Returning to the Super Bowl

Sports Marketing News

Months Ahead of Super Bowl 56, Ads Are Nearly Sold Out. Here's Why

Unlike the supply chain problems at retailers, NBC engineered this shortage

Jason Notte

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Jason Notte