• by Wayne Friedman , February 2, 2007

CBS has closed the selling of the Super Bowl to advertisers with a number of last-minute deals, according to industry executives.

"It was a race to the wire," says one veteran media-agency executive. "But this isn't uncommon. There are always a couple of spots that are sold the week leading up to the event."

The Weinstein Co., the new movie company from Harvey and Bob Weinstein, will buy a fourth-quarter spot for the upcoming "Hannibal Rising," according to industry executives. The movie is set to release Feb. 9, five days after the Super Bowl.

In addition, T-Mobile bought a fourth-quarter commercial for an undetermined piece of creative.

Phone calls and email messages were not returned by either The Weinstein Co. or T-Mobile by press time. A CBS spokesman would only say: "The finish line is right in front of us, but I think he needs to get there first."

Analysts estimate that the last-minute deals were in the low $2 million range for each 30-second commercial, according to executives. It has been reported that CBS had been making deals for around $2.6 million for a 30-second spot.

Late sales for the Super Bowl aren't uncommon. Neither are low prices, say media-agency executives, with slots sold for under $2 million. For instance, at last year's event, Outback Restaurants grabbed a late fourth-quarter spot from ABC for an astoundingly low $1.1 million, according to sources.

Media executives are quick to point out that these lower-priced numbers may be just a bookkeeper detail--depending on whether the client also had bought other prime-time network advertising or pre- and post-game commercials.

Some advertisers buying this year include Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch, Flomax, PepsiCo, General Motors, CareerBuilder.com, Diamond Emerald Nuts, FedEx, GoDaddy, Honda Motor, HP, Lionsgate, Revlon, Toyota, Nationwide Insurance, Mars' Snickers, the NFL, King Pharmaceuticals, Taco Bell, Phillips Van Heusen, Frito-Lay, Sprint, Snapple and Walt Disney Co.

In the past, the Super Bowl has had a number of advertiser trends.

There was the dot.com year in 2000, when more than 20 commercials from Internet companies were purchased. In recent years, the male erectile dysfunction drugs made a splash--which raised the eyebrows of critics, especially during the Janet Jackson breast-revealing half-time incident in 2004.

Previously, virtually all the major five movie studios would buy Super Bowl spots for one or more movies, for a total of anywhere from five to eight commercials.

This year, the number of studios will be lower--even including the buy by The Weinstein Co. The list will now be at least four spots: two by Disney, one each for "Meet the Robinsons" and "Wild Hogs," and one from Lionsgate for the movie "Pride."