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Feb 7, 2010 11:33 pm US/Central
Good Question: Are Super Bowl Ads Worth The Money?
(WCCO)
A lot of us watch the Super Bowl for the commercials. And they're not cheap, costing up to $1 million to produce and nearly $3 million more to get CBS to air it. So are Super Bowl ads worth the money?
Colleen Ryan is a Vice President at Compass Point Media in Minneapolis.
"I'm never going to say the Super Bowl is a bad value because of all that comes with the Super Bowl," said Ryan.
John Rash is a Senior Vice President at Campbell Mithun, an ad agency.
"At minimum about a third of all Americans watch it," said Rash. "Those that score high are often seen a tremendous amount and have a long post-game life."
So how do you know if it's worth the money?
"Traditionally it boils down to what we call a 'cost per point,'" explained Ryan.
About 100 million people watch the Super Bowl, so the cost per viewer is around 3 cents.
"If you put your money into a Super Bowl spot, you're still spending a premium over what you would spend on a cost per point basis again, over regular prime," she said, pointing out that it's about half as expensive per viewer to buy an ad on a hit primetime show like CSI.
"We did not buy a spot in the Super Bowl for Cub Foods, however we did by some spots in the Olympics," she added.
So if the companies spend so much money on such great ads, why are they only seen once?
"Part of it is because they're so punch line-specific," said Rash. "Once the punch line is out there, they don't have as much shelf life."
"They're main objective is to create a buzz-worthy Super Bowl ad that's going to be on the top of that 'most favorite Super Bowl spot' list," added Ryan.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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