• Broadcasting & Cable, Thursday, February 5, 2009 9:45 AM

NBC squeezed in a record total of 84 spots from the opening kickoff to the final whistle of the Super Bowl, totaling just over 45 minutes in ad time. The past four years' Super Bowls (which aired on NBC, Fox, CBS, and ABC respectively) now occupy the top four slots in terms of most in-game commercial time in the game's history, according to TNS Media.

At the same time, this year's game was the most watched Super Bowl in history, according to Nielsen's updated final national ratings.

General Electric, NBC's parent company, contributed 2:30 of advertising time to this year's game. That is more than the parent companies of Fox and CBS had in the past two Super Bowls, but much less than the 4:30 the Disney-owned entities had in the 2006 ABC-televised game. Pepsi Co. bought up the most ad time, clocking in at 5:30 for eight total spots. Movies were the dominant ad category again this year, accounting for seven minutes, followed by automotive products.

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