Super Bowl ROI

It is mind-boggling that a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl can cost as much as $3 million dollars and CBS just announced that they have sold out all the spots for 2010. Most advertisers don’t commit without tremendous analysis and evaluation, though they typically reach their decision on an annual basis. Repeat advertisers assess the performance of their commercials during and after the previous year’s game and many even prior to the actual airing by leveraging the power of the Internet.

The Super Bowl is viewed by an average of 98.7 million people – roughly a third of the country. With such a huge audience, Super Bowl commercials often result in immediate sales increases. Here are some specific company examples:

—In the past five years, CareerBuilder’s sales have increased by 40 percent each year in the three months following the Super Bowl

— The market share for GoDaddy.com jumped from 16 percent to 25 percent after their first ad ran in 2005 and it has risen steadily since then by 32 percent

—On Super Bowl Sunday, 2005 website traffic increased 594 percent for Budweiser.com which was the biggest increase registered by any advertiser that year

—In 2009, Teleflora’s saw an increase of 1,464 percent in the number of online mentions the brand received in the days immediately following its Super Bowl ad. The goal was to get people to order flowers for Valentine’s Day.

Consumer package goods companies typically see an 11+ percent sales increase in the month following the game. Additionally, brand awareness scores rise, website traffic and search volume increases and the commercials are posted on YouTube providing repeat exposure in a new, viral way. In terms of efficacy, one Super Bowl commercial can be compared to 250 regular TV commercials. So, $3 million dollars for a Super Bowl ad, anyone?

Source: Advertising Age 1/25/2010, Bloomberg 1/21/2009, ZDNet Research 2/9/2005