PETA nails the Super Bowl ad formula: grab the attention, don’t pay $3 million
Another Super Bowl, another banned PETA ad. NBC banned the latest ad, dubbed Veggie Love, from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for being too racy.
Everybody’s attention will be focused on the gridiron this afternoon. And that raises the perennial question: are Super Bowl ads worth the high price tags? Various sources suggest that the cost for a 30 second ad is now $3 million, up 10 percent from a year ago. By comparison, a World Series ad last year cost $392,000, according to TNS Media Intelligence.
The difference is a matter of eyeballs. The Super Bowl drew a record 97 million viewers last year. Ads for the Oscars, which drew 40 million viewers last year, cost about $1.67 million. NBC is expected to rake in $200 milion from the ads for the whole game, according to TNS.
The companies running commercials this year include Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola, H&R Block, Intel/DreamWorks Animation, GoDaddy, Career Builder, Cash4Gold, and Monster.com. Past advertisers such as Federal Express, General Motors and Garmin have pulled out, citing tough economic times.
