The cost of a 30-second ad for the Super Bowl, the National Football League (NFL) championship game, hit an all-time high. That’s $10 million (about 14.6 billion won) in 30 seconds.
On the 1st (local time), the British Financial Times (FT) reported that the 60th NFL Super Bowl, hosted by NBC Universal under media group Comcast, is the largest in the history of the U.S. advertising industry. NBC will broadcast this game through its main broadcast and through ‘Telemundo’ and ‘Peacock’. ‘Telemundo’ is a Spanish channel, and ‘Peacock’ is an online video service (OTT).
Advertisers pay an average of $8 million (about 11.7 billion won) for a 30-second Super Bowl ad. Super Bowl commercials are closing at the fastest pace ever. Last year’s Super Bowl had 127.7 million TV and streaming viewers in the United States. It is the largest ever.
Marshall, Chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships at NBCUniversal, said, “This is a record-breaking ad price. The sports market is currently very strong, including the Milan Olympics and the Super Bowl. We sold more Super Bowl ad time during the pre-sale period than ever before.”
It is analyzed that the advertising market is returning to TV advertising as TV advertising sales are improving and the cost of Super Bowl advertising has reached an all-time high. Advertisements in other sports fields are also selling out. NBC said earlier this year that it had sold all of its Olympic advertising. Many companies seem to prefer sports broadcasts that can be enjoyed in groups rather than individual online viewing experiences. There is also analysis that the online and social media advertisements that have been implemented so far are not as effective as expected. Chairman Marshall added, “This is because the advertising reach and conversion rates did not meet expectations.”
A study conducted jointly by the Korea Advertisers Association and the research team of Professor Hyunsoo Park of the Korea Advertising Society also showed that TV advertising is more efficient. According to the ‘2025 Advertising Media Evaluation Study’, TV advertisements exposed under the same conditions outperformed digital advertisements in all advertising performance items, including awareness, preference, and purchase intention.
In particular, TV was much more powerful in terms of ‘advertising impact’, which refers to the degree of memorableness. Professor Hyunsoo Park explained, “TV is still a powerful medium in the stages of brand awareness and persuasion.”
Intern reporter Bae Hyeon-ui baehyeonui@hankyung.com
