• by Wayne Friedman , February 19, 2007

Daytona 500 ad revenues are in high gear. It is another early-season major TV sports event that continues to watch ad profits climb, says Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Like the Super Bowl and the Oscars, the Daytona 500 is a premium auto race event, which has seen its average price for a 30-second commercial climb 11% per year over the last five years, and an average of 17% in overall revenues during that time period.

According to media buyers, the price of a 30-second commercial for this past weekend's event, which ran on Fox, was $500,000. At least 10 new advertisers unveiled new campaigns during the race this year--technology companies, movie studios and financial services, among others.

The price tag is up over the $450,000 price of a year ago--when the race ran on NBC, with total TV advertising at $42.3 million, says Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

The advertising category breakdown on Fox this year was more or less what it has been in previous years. Last year on NBC, there were 13 spots from automotive, nine each from retail and beer, eight from NASCAR and seven from telecommunications advertisers.

In 2006, NBC ran some 47 minutes of commercials against 249 minutes of content--the most commercial time in over six years. Some 92 commercials were aired. NBC also touted its own programs with some 18 promos--also the most in six years.

For the last several years, the main core of advertisers has included--from the largest to the smallest--Anheuser-Busch, General Motors, Sprint Nextel, Ford Motor, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. Their media-dollar commitments have steadily increased, in line with the higher 30-second price tag.

Last year, it amounted to $4.5 million for A-B, $2.7 million each from GM and Sprint Nextel, $2.25 for Ford Motor, and $1.8 million each from Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.