Sports and the Economy looks at the effect the current economic conditions are having on sports leagues, teams and fans across the country.
The headlines from today alone tell the story of how bad this recession is; “Ford Has Its Worst Year Ever but Won’t Ask for Aid“, “New home sales plunge to lowest on record” and “Record number standing in unemployment lines“. However, NBC has not had a problem selling Super Bowl ads.
NBC never dropped their ad-rate of $3 million for a 30 second spot. That seems to be a victory in itself. It’s even more impressive considering the advertising industry, just like most others, is not doing so well.
Last year FOX charged $2.7 million per 30 second spot during the Super Bowl. And who would have thought, that $2.7 mil looks like a bargain now in this post-recession world.
NBC’s biggest client… Anheuser-Busch, of course. Budweiser and Bud Light, are the biggest sponsors again this year. They will have a total of 9 spots.
On the other hand Doritos, feeling the crunch of the times, took a different route. Rather than pay ad agencies, they had a contest for amateurs to create spots for them. The winning ad will be aired during the game and the winning creator will get a $1 million…. a bargain compared to paying a professional ad agency.
As of yesterday, NBC had sold all but just 2 of their 30 second spots; this does include NBC’s 5 minutes allotted to hype their own shows. So things have worked out well for NBC even in the tough economic climate we are currently in.
[...] I wrote previously, Doritos ad was created by an amateur. The creator received $1 million for his efforts and now also [...]