Super Bowl ads could be a bargain if the NFL’s Covid struggles continue

With the pandemic impacting the NFL’s scheduling, advertisers who are not yet committed could see last-minute discounts for Super Bowl slots.

Kevin Krim, the founder and CEO of advertising metrics data firm EDO, said advertisers have expressed concern over the NFL’s postponements of some regular-season games as players came down with Covid-19. They want certainty around the Feb. 7 game.

The ads are worth around $5 million to $6 million. According to Bloomberg, Fox pulled in more than $400 million last year, selling roughly 77 paid ads at approximately $5.6 million each. CBS is charging approximately $5.5 million for 2021 spots, according to sources familiar with the network’s NFL pricing.

The network has sold almost 80% of its package, according to Sports Business Journal, and national companies like Toyota have already secured spots. But marketing experts estimated most of the sold slots were already built in deals from pre-negotiated packages.

In order to maintain the ad price for the remaining slots, the media pundits said CBS would likely package the Super Bowl with other NFL or sports programming packages to make it attractive for companies still on the fence.

Tony Ponturo, the former vice-president of Anheuser-Busch global media sports and entertainment marketing, said the move protects CPM (cost per thousand impressions) and CBS gets to “maintain credibility over the Super Bowl price and they’ve [companies] been given other inventory in order to make the whole CPM work. No one knows what the secret sauce is in order to maintain that unit price but they are all packages to some degree.”