• by Wayne Friedman , November 1, 2005

ABC is piling on when it comes to activities around its upcoming Super Bowl on February 5--not only will it schedule top-rated "Grey's Anatomy" after the game, but it continues to see strong support from its advertising sales effort.

For the first time in years, the Super Bowl sales effort is significantly well sold going into the November sweeps period, ahead of pace versus previous years, according to analysts. According to reports cited way back in August, ABC had only 10 units or less to sell in the big game. That would put the network at an 84 percent sell out of its inventory.

Those numbers have improved since then. One deal made recently has been with Bayer Pharmaceuticals, which has used the event in the past to market many over-the-counter and direct-to-consumer medications. In the past, Bayer--along with GlaxoSmithKline and Schering-Plough--bought the big game for the erectile dysfunction drug, Levitra. Bayer executives did not return phone calls by press time.

Super Bowl unit prices for a 30-second spot--for what has been the highest-rated TV show of the year--are anywhere from $2.4 million to $2.6 million for a commercial unit. ABC has sold about 51 or more units in the game. ABC executives would not comment about sales activity.

But as all veteran Super Bowl network sales executives know, no matter what is sold in October, it isn't the real score: Selling the Super Bowl is never really done until days before the game. One industry advertising sales executive noted: "It's an event that you have to re-sell a number of times."

That's because TV advertisers make deals many months in advance--including during the May/June/July upfront sales process--only to have second thoughts in the weeks leading up to the game. That's when some marketers look to 'sell back' pricey Super Bowl inventory. Typically, a network will consider taking back Super Bowl commercial units only if they can sell the spots for more money.

Although many non-traditional sports advertisers buy the Super Bowl, networks do get regular NFL advertisers as well. ABC's Super Bowl sales have benefited this season, as NFL football is one of the few programming areas to see significant price hikes in cost per thousand viewers (CPMs).

NFL pricing has been up by high single-digit percent increases--in some cases, twice the price hike of deals made in the upfront ad market earlier this year for broadcast prime-time non-sports entertainment programming. Adding to the momentum, ABC has also been lifting prime-time prices for the fourth-quarter scatter market.

ABC isn't just doing well from an advertising sales position in reference to the Super Bowl--but from a programming one as well. The network is leading in the 18-49 ratings race with shows such as "Desperate Housewives," "Lost," and "Grey's Anatomy."

To boost its already high status, the network will schedule a special "Grey's Anatomy"--the fourth-highest-rated prime-time show--after the Super Bowl XL game on February 5.

The last time ABC had the Super Bowl, it put on "Alias"--which scored a rather low Nielsen Media Research 10.6 rating /20 share--this considering that the football game regularly does 40 rating and 60 share points. Other middling performers in recent years were Fox efforts, with "Malcolm In the Middle" (11.5/21) in 2002 and "Family Guy" (12.6/21) in 1999, and ABC's "The Practice" (15.3/27) in 2000.

The highest rating for a program after the Super Bowl in recent years was "Survivor II," which earned a 24.5/39 in 2001 for CBS. In 1996, "Friends" pulled down a 29.6/46 number for NBC.