Super Bowl Easy as ABC

Host free-to-air broadcaster ABC has sold 75 percent of its advertising inventory for next year’s SuperBowl some six months before the climactic game to the NFL season takes place.

The network, which holds the exclusive TV rights to the SuperBowl next January, has enjoyed notable success with its advertising sales to the game thanks for recent deals with agency OMD and Anheuser-Busch which owns beer brand Budweiser.

The agreement with OMD is part of a $1 billion cross-platform deal with ABC’s owner Walt Disney Co. with 20 SuperBowl ad slots available for OMD’s client list which includes Pepsi, FedEx and Visa.

The average price for a SuperBowl slot on ABC has been reportedly set at just over $2 million with 46 of the 61 available spots having been sold, according to the network.

ABC has also been enjoying ad sales success for its Monday Night Football (MNF) programme with about 60 percent of such advertising for next season already sold. The network is predicting that 75 percent of MNF slots will be sold by the first week in July.

Drew Barrand drewb@sportbusiness.com