CBS says one spot away from selling all Super Bowl ads

http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/010118/n18405083_2.html

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Television network CBS Corp., a unit of Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA – news), said it has sold all but one of its ad spots for the Jan. 28 National Football League Super Bowl championship game, which the network is broadcasting this year.

“We are currently just one spot away from being sold out,” CBS spokesman Dana McClintock told Reuters. “Most importantly we are in excess of our overall revenue targets for the day,” he said.

McClintock declined to give advertising revenue figures. But advertising sources familiar with the situation said that the television company is getting $200 million in ad revenue from the game. Sources said that 30-second spots has sold for an average of $2.3 million each.

Major advertisers in the game this year include MasterCard and Levi’s Strauss & Co.

The game between the New York Giants and Baltimore Ravens will take place in Tampa, Fla. It has become one of the biggest sports — and advertising — extravaganzas in the United States, with a large amount of people watching the game to see the ads. An estimated 130 million people will watch the game in the United States.

The game has become a launching pad for new creative campaigns by major advertisers like Budweiser maker Anheuser-Busch Inc. (NYSE:BUD – news) and PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP – news), which are both taking part in this year’s game.

There had been concerns that CBS may have trouble selling all of its spots because of the softer advertising market, but some advertising experts said the game’s prominence would ensure that all the ad spots would be sold.