Super Bowl pregame ads a tougher sell

People who buy ad time on behalf of advertisers say NBC is having a tough time selling out the ads that will run in the four hours or more leading up to the Feb. 1 championship. Now the network is making deals to more quickly move unsold inventory for the less-watched but still pricey pregame spots. “Things have been softening for a while,” said Gary Carr, director of national broadcast at media buyer TargetCast in New York. “There’s some attractive pricing to be had.”