• Reuters via Canada.com, Monday, January 14, 2008 11:46 AM

Between the writers strike, an overall decline in TV ratings and the budgetary crunch that comes with an economic slowdown, it has been a tough row to hoe for many U.S. advertisers this year. But that is good news for the Big Game: Already the biggest TV event of the year, the 2008 Super Bowl could be even bigger as marketers seek out "event programming," i.e. those shows audiences viewers watch live rather than recording to watch later, while skipping the commercials.

"As ratings continue to erode, the Super Bowl and any of the other big events look even more glorious than they did before," says Steve Farella, chief executive of TargetCast, an independent media buying agency. This time around, U.S. audiences have been left without some of their favorite shows, due to the 10-week-old strike and prime-time network ratings were off about 10% for the fall.

"It could be the highest-rated Super Bowl in history," says Brad Adgate, director of research at Horizon Media. "The competing networks usually back down anyway. But with an audience starved for TV entertainment, it could be huge." Even pre-strike, News Corp's Fox Broadcasting had sold more than 90% of its ad inventory for the Feb. 3 game and insiders say the price for a 30-second spot went as high as $3 million. Among those already in: Anheuser-Busch, General Motors, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.

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