There was record viewership for the last-second victories in each of the 2022 NFC and AFC Divisional Round games. Thus, the interest in this year’s Super Bowl game may be unprecedented and advertisers may want to take advantage. For the last six years, I have posted guidelines about engaging in or accepting advertising or promotions that directly or indirectly reference the Super Bowl without a license from the NFL. Here is an updated version of my prior posts, which may be particularly useful to potential advertisers and broadcasters who may be asked to carry their ads.
The Super Bowl means big bucks. It is estimated that each of the three television networks that broadcasts the Super Bowl paid the NFL over $1 billion per year for the right to broadcast NFL games through this season, including the right to broadcast the big game on a rotating basis once every three years. In addition, the NFL has entered into a new contract that goes through 2033, for a reported total of $100 billion, under which CBS, ESPN/ABC and Fox, will have television rights for three Super Bowls and NBC will have the rights to broadcast two Super Bowls.
The investment seems to pay off for the networks. Reportedly, it cost $6 M for a 30-second spot during last year’s Super Bowl broadcast, up from $5.6 M the prior year, and national advertising revenue totaled $545 M (up from $448.7 M the prior year) and these figures do not include income from ads during any pre-game or post-game programming. (In addition to the sums paid to have their commercials aired, some advertisers spend millions of dollars to produce an ad.) In addition, the NFL receives hundreds of millions of dollars from licensing the use of the SUPER BOWL trademark and logo.
Continue Reading The Clock is Ticking Towards the Super Bowl: 2022 Update on Super Bowl Advertising and Promotions