Plenty Of Ads Still Unsold For First Streamed Super Bowl

With 11 days to go before the big game, there’s still lots of digital inventory left for the Super Bowl. Some brands, including General Motors, have bought into digital packages generally ranging from $300,000 to $600,000. But, other advertisers have so far not shown the same enthusiasm for the live stream as they have the sold-out TV broadcast.

NBC wouldn’t comment on the status of its digital sales effort for the Super Bowl, but a source close to the network insisted its sales were “at capacity.” So with ad time for the traditional Super Bowl telecast in typically short supply, so why are media buyers insisting there’s plenty of digital inventory left?

Despite the huge popularity of the game, media buyers don’t believe NBC’s Super Bowl stream will draw a digital audience that much greater than the 200,000 to 300,000 unique viewers that NBC says typically watch its regular season contests online or through mobile devices. Buyers theorize that the typical NFL fan might not interrupt his Sunday activities for, say, an early-January Wild Card matchup between the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons, and will catch up on the game on a tablet or smart phone while he’s out and about.

NBC will stream the match-up between the Giants and the New England Patriots on NBCSports.com and NFL.com, offering HD resolution, DVR-style controls, multiple camera angles, in-game highlights, and live statistics and interactive features. This stream will be accessible through PCs and tablet devices; Verizon Wireless, which has an exclusive mobile deal with the NFL, will broadcast NBC’s live stream to its Android-equipped subscribers, just as it does for regular-season Sunday night games.

So how many football fans will watch the live stream of the Super Bowl? Neither NBC or media buyers seem exactly sure – it’s not easy to gauge based on previous NFL live streams, because the Super Bowl tends to attract a much broader viewership. There is a feeling among all parties, however, that rather than cannibalizing the game’s TV audience, the digital broadcast will actually enhance it.