Look over sphere: The giant, round billboard in Las Vegas, explained

If you build a sphere, advertisers will come.

That seems to be the lesson in Las Vegas, where Sphere—an enormous dome-shaped venue with an exterior covered in LED screens—has now broadcast 360-degree digital ads for some of the biggest brands in the world since even before it opened in September, including Coca-Cola, Xbox, and Meta. Sphere’s first major ad buy came from YouTube in September, when the company took over the massive exterior, known as the “Exosphere,” to plug its NFL Sunday Ticket package.

Las Vegas residents and visitors should probably get used to seeing more ads and fewer smiley emoji on the bulbous billboard: In an earnings call last week, James Dolan, the executive chairman and CEO of Sphere Entertainment Co., said the company has a “healthy pipeline of advertising commitments” for the Exosphere from “prominent global brands” in the coming months, including a “record-setting revenue week” around the Super Bowl.

Worth a pretty penny: Advertising on the Exosphere can reportedly cost brands anywhere from $450k a day to $650k a week. That could help to offset the losses for Sphere Entertainment Co., which oversees Sphere—the company reported losing nearly $100 million on the venue last quarter.

Brian Rappaport, CEO of out-of-home agency Quan Media Group, said Sphere-based advertising represents a nearly unmatched value proposition. It’s “the No. 1 thing on my OOH bucket list,” he told us.

“The sheer magnitude and shape of Sphere, coupled with the excitement around it, coupled with the excitement of Las Vegas as a market in general…Having that moment, it’s almost like brand legitimacy on steroids,” he said.

Rappaport also noted the uncluttered environment and visibility for ads could be a benefit for brands, especially compared to busier OOH locations like Times Square.

Measuring up: Rappaport said brands advertising on Sphere are focused on things like press coverage and social amplification, something that Dolan also emphasized as a value proposition to advertisers. (Geopath, which standardizes audience measurement of OOH impressions, does not currently audit campaigns for Sphere, Sara Serbanoiu, a press representative for Geopath, told us.) That social amplification, at least so far, seems to be working, considering the number of videos of the venue, both inside and outside, that have gone viral.

Where we go from (sp)here: Rappaport said he’s excited to see Sphere’s ad offerings evolve during and after events like CES and the Super Bowl, when interest in big-impact advertising may wane. “There have been a lot of events that have backed up to Sphere’s opening, which is exciting,” he said. “But what do brands do when there’s nothing significantly memorable in Vegas during a quote-unquote down period?”

For now, U2’s inaugural residency inside Sphere has been extended to 2024, plans are in place for a London Sphere, and some people are paying $15 to see Sphere from a literal parking lot. Even if advertiser interest does slow down, maybe Sphere can make some money back from its $30 specialty cocktails.