• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, January 30, 2012

According to the Kantar Media database, in the last 10 years the Super Bowl game has generated $1.72 billion of network advertising sales from more than 125 marketers.  The top five Super Bowl advertisers of the past 10 years have spent $636.6 million on advertising during the game, accounting for 37% of total advertising revenue.

The average rate for a 30-second advertisement 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 with NBC claiming a sticker price of $3.5 million for a 30-second unit.

Over the past ten years, the volume of commercial time in the game has been edging upwards even as the price of advertising has become more expensive. The Fox telecast of the 2011 Super Bowl contained 46 minutes, 10 seconds of network ads, the second largest amount in history.

A significant proportion of advertisers opt to spend extra by running longer length commercials in an effort to further engage viewers and boost return on investment. In each of the past four years, there have been at least ten advertisements of 60 seconds or longer. By comparison, the normal proportion of long form ads on a broadcast network is about 6%.

Typically, about 20% of the Super Bowl ad lineup is composed of first- time advertisers. In 2011 the proportion dropped to 14% as only four marketers made their debut, the fewest since 2003. Three marketers have publicly confirmed their first-time participation for the 2012 game: Century 21, Dannon and the movie studio Relativity Media.

The flow of first-time advertisers has produced a parallel trend: an expanding parade of small marketers who invest a hefty chunk of their annual budget in the Super Bowl. In 2011, nearly one-third of the Super Bowl advertisers put more than 10% of their full-year media budgets into the game. 

Over the past decade, the Super Bowl has attracted a bevy of different movie studio, automotive and dot-com companies, making these the most populous and competitive ad categories.

Competitive message clutter within the motion picture sector is more severe than the table implies because studios habitually use their inventory to promote multiple films. Last year, there were ads for ten different films.

The 2011 Super Bowl smashed all records for auto manufacturer advertising with a staggering $77.5 million spent on 18 messages for nine different brands. The 2012 game will have another glut of car ads.  Based on corporate announcements, at least eight different auto nameplates will go head-to-head.

Major League Baseball’s World Series and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship are two other high profile sporting events that attract significant interest from TV advertisers.  But how do these compare to the Super Bowl in terms of ad spend?

For more information about Kantar Media, please go here.