Super Bowl ad sellout: NBC's top 30-second spots selling for record $6.5 million as 'NFL's never been stronger'

Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY
·3 min read

A nearly perfect storm of a strong enough economy, thirsty advertisers getting back in the game and the USA's bottomless appetite for football is resulting in a record boom for Super Bowl advertising.

Ad inventory for the Feb. 13 game has been virtually sold out since September and the top price for a 30-second spot has hit a record $6.5 milliion, according to Dan Lovinger, president of ad sales and partnerships for NBCUniversal.

The network has been aggressively touting to advertisers and audience alike its unprecedented broadcasting double - Super Bowl 56 at sparkling SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, immediately followed by the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Right now, football remains king.

While NBC is holding back some slots to allow advertisers a chance to jump in once the game matchup is determined, the network had no problem hitting its $6 million ask and Lovinger said its "back half" of ads were sold for $6.5 million.

That represents a 20% increase from NBC's last game broadcast, in 2018, and a 9% jump from the $5.5 million Fox (2020) and CBS (2021) commanded.

Super Bowl 55, won by the host Tampa Bay Buccaneers, marked the first game of the 2020-21 season played in front of a full stadium due to COVID-19 restrictions and the tenor - and thirst - for ads reflected the mid-pandemic mood.

Consider the pivot back to frivolous and lucrative almost complete.

USA TODAY AD METER: See where your favorite commercial from past Super Bowls ranked

A general view of the Vince Lombardi trophy at SoFi Stadium and Lake Park. The facility will host Super Bowl XLVI in 2022.
A general view of the Vince Lombardi trophy at SoFi Stadium and Lake Park. The facility will host Super Bowl XLVI in 2022.

"It’s a confluence of things," says Lovinger. "The NFL’s never been stronger, particularly in comparative terms. When you think about the NFL relative to other sports or certainly general entertainment programming, it’s really, really strong. If you’re looking to reach 100 million people, there’s only one place you can go, and that’s the Super Bowl.

"Second is the economy seems to be on pretty stable footing. You’ve got strong-ish GDP and great consumer confidence. What we’ve learned is when consumers consume, advertisers advertise.

"The third thing is the impact of COVID and how advertisers have learned to adapt to it. Marketers are really finding a way through it. From what we’ve seen based on scripts, it’s a return back to a more comedic tone, we think. You’re going to see a slightly lighter tone and I think the country’s ready for it."

Nascent industries like cryptocurrency (the Tom Brady-endorsed FTX) and legalized sports betting (DraftKings) are in. Nissan is back in the big game - with a 60-second ad - for the first time since 2015.

And transcendent celebrities like Megan Thee Stallion - repping Frito-Lay - will be back, too, with many more rollouts expected beginning this week.

If last week's wild-card weekend is any indication, advertisers should get their money's worth. Sunday's Dallas-San Francisco game on CBS and Nickelodeon averaged more than 41 million viewers across the two networks, according to CBS, the largest audience for a wild-card game since 2015 and the second-most watched show since, yep, Super Bowl 55.

While the Cowboys are out, A-list quarterbacks like Brady, Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers and Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes remain in contention.

"It all adds up," says Lovinger, "to a really strong market for the Super Bowl."

Follow Gabe Lacques on Twitter @GabeLacques

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Super Bowl ad slots selling for record $6.5 million, nearly sold out