$4M
A Minute THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK (AP)--Some Internet companies are paying more to advertise on January's Super Bowl telecast than they have generated in revenue and have helped push the average commercial price to a record of about $2 million. As many as a dozen "dot-com" advertisers are expected to rub shoulders with Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi-Cola, Federal Express, Visa and other longtime Super Bowl advertisers on the Jan. 30 telecast on ABC. Industry insiders say price evidently has been no object as the average charge for a 30-second Super Bowl commercial has soared 25 percent from the old high of $1.6 million in the last NFL championship game telecast. Super Bowl ad prices are typically the most expensive on TV. Marvin Goldsmith, ABC's head of sales and marketing, declined to comment on the prices but said a strong economy and advertisers' renewed appreciation of broadcast TV's ability to reach a huge audience quickly helped sales. The price increase is a testament to the Super Bowl 's perennial ability to attract the biggest TV ratings of the year even as audiences for broadcast networks have steadily eroded. "There are very few of these platform events that offer the opportunity to reach the masses in a concise period," said Bob Flood, who oversees the national TV ad purchases made by DeWitt Media in New York. The online marketers in particular want to use the Super Bowl as "a showpiece for their Internet address and to say to the world that we are playing with the big boys," said Bill Croasdale, a top commercial buyer at Western Initiative Media in Los Angeles. But paying more for a 30-second commercial than you have generated in sales is a bold move, even on a day when excess is the norm. "We have not generated a dime yet," conceded Ethan Russman, marketing director of Angeltips.com, which is paying $2 million for Super Bowl exposure with startup money it has raised mostly from European and Asian investors. Russman compared Angeltips.com's recently launched Web site to a "dating service" that matches entrepreneurs with investors looking for new business concepts. He said the exposure from two ads in the game and a pregame show should build credibility and trust for the company. "There is nothing else in the advertising and marketing world that matches the Super Bowl," he said. Dot-com advertisers have bought about 20 percent of the available commercials in the Super Bowl, industry insiders estimated. That is a big increase from a year ago when lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret created a stir by advertising its Webcast of its annual fashion show. Several of this year's dot-com sponsors said they were also impressed with the results that two online job sites reported after advertising on last year's Super Bowl telecast. ETrade Group, the online brokerage, is sponsoring the halftime show and has purchased several ads in the game and pregame shows. from The Associated Press
|
Today's Lineup | Sports
Pages | Newsstand | Sports
Links
Speak Out | Mailing
List | Spotters | About
Us | Home
Contact us at Info@ArmchairQB.com
