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Last night, the Buffalo Bills and reigning Super Bowl champs, the Los Angeles Rams, kicked off this year’s NFL season. Even though it’s just begun, Super Bowl ad slots are already almost sold out and brands are planning for the game.
Here’s what you need to know to get up to speed (marketing-wise—we can’t help you with your fantasy lineup).
$$$: Earlier this week, Fox announced that it had sold out 95% of its Super Bowl ad inventory, despite the event still being five months away and the softening of the ad market over the summer.
- Mark Evans, EVP of ad sales for Fox Sports, told Adweek that the broadcaster “came out of the upfront marketplace with over 90% sellout in the Super Bowl, which has never happened before. It’s a record for us.”
- Some spots have sold for upward of $7 million.
Rewind: Last season, when NBCUniversal had the broadcast rights for the Super Bowl, the company had sold 85% of its commercial spots by July and had “only a few units left” as of Sept. 8, Dan Lovinger, NBC Sports Group’s EVP of advertising sales, said at the time.
Evans said almost the same thing to Variety this year, telling the outlet that Fox Sports probably had five 30-second spots left, maybe fewer.
Crypto 🤝 Super Bowl: Yesterday, crypto exchange OKX started its first global ad campaign, and its global CMO, Haider Rafique, told Ad Age that the company will “of course be a part of the Super Bowl.”
Rafique didn’t share details, but this could be an indication that crypto brands will continue their love affair with the game in 2023. On the other hand, according to the Wall Street Journal, the industry has “backed away” from the Super Bowl this year.
Big picture: Ad revenue from the 2021–2022 season reached $4.3 billion, up 14% from the previous season, according to research from Standard Media Index (SMI). That’s the highest season of ad spending when considering national telecasts since SMI started tracking in 2017.—AM