• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, January 17, 2012

WPP’s Kantar Media unit released one of its usual historical reviews of Super Bowl performance leading up to this year’s Big Game, and calculates that advertising sales in the past 10 Super Bowls have generated $1.72 billion.”

Even more interestingly, that total came from 125 different marketers, who spent an average of $13.8 million buying time in the game over the past 10 years. Even more interestingly,

Kantar calculates that the top five Super Bowl advertisers over that time – Anheuser-Busch InBev, Pepsico, General Motors, Walt Disney and Coca-Cola – spent a total of $636.6 million, accounting for more than a third (37%) of total Super Bowl advertising revenues over the past 10 years.

The average rate for a 30-second spot in the Super Bowl has increased by 40% during the past decade, reaching $3.1 million last year. Higher pricing is expected for the 2012 game Feb. 5, with NBC claiming a sticker price of $3.5 million for a 30-second unit.

"The actual amount paid by individual marketers will vary depending on where the ad runs in the game, how much commercial time is purchased and whether the advertiser opts for a larger package that includes spots in the pre-game and/or post-game coverage," the Kantar analysis noted.