Super Bowl Commercial Prices Up 76% in Decade

Ad prices for TV’s biggest event, the Super Bowl, have increased 76% over the past decade, according to figures released by Kantar Media.

CBS has said that prices for some spots on this year’s game have topped $5 million for 30 seconds, which would again be another increase.

Kantar says over the past decade, the Super Bowl has generated $2.38 billion of network advertising sales from more than 130 marketers. Last year alone, the Super Bowl rang up $345.4 million in ad revenue for NBC. 2006 Super Bowl revenues were $162.5 million.

Spots went for an average of $4.4 million in the 2015, up from $4.2 million in 2014. Back in 2006, spots cost $2.5 million, a relative bargain.

The top advertisers on the Super Bowl over the past 10 years are Anheuser-Busch InBev, which was in all 10 games and spent $287.3 million, according to Kantar. Pepsi has also been in all 10 games, spending $172 million. Rounding out the top five are Coca-Cola, Chrysler and General Motors.

Kantar says despite the high cost, advertisers tend to run longer commercials during the Super Bowl to tell deeper stories and better engage viewers. Last year 40% of brand ads in the Super Bowl were 60 seconds or longer. During normal broadcast programming, only about 6% of spots are long form.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.