By Staff
There is still a week to go before Super Bowl XL at Detroit's Ford Field on Feb. 5, however, the hype is building.
Not the game hype, there will be plenty of that to kick in as the days count off, but the commercial hype.
It is like the game takes a back seat anymore to the commercials that are aired during the contest.
Seattle and Pittsburgh will have to put on quite a show to be the talk of the water cooler the following day.
Nowadays, it's “did you see the Budweiser ad?” or “did you catch the Pepsi ad during the Super Bowl?”
Not even the halftime show can compare with the buzz surrounding the commercials.
There has been a growing concern among those involved with landing Super Bowl advertisements that with all the digital video recorders, cable on-demand and ad-free television through the Internet, advertisers might start looking at other avenues.
Not to worry.
Those who do television advertising in a big way are sticking with time-honored events such as the Super Bowl and the Oscars.
Despite numbers that show a decline in viewers, the almighty advertising dollar remains pretty steady.
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which owns the rights to the Super Bowl, is averaging $2.5 million for a 30- second spot. That's up from last year's $2.4 million.
That's a staggering $80,000 per second.
When the Oscars roll around in March, ABC is going to rake in nearly $1.7 million per 30-second spot - a nearly 6-percent jump from 2005. Coca Cola is going for a touchdown as it will be the title sponsor of the pre-game show.
While there are the usual suspects taking part with advertising during the Super Bowl, smaller companies may actually devote their entire budget to a spot during the game.
That puts tremendous pressure on them to deliver.
With more and more consumers skipping commercials during normal programming, live television is the place to be these days. And with the Super Bowl being the kickoff of the live television season, we can count on some entertaining spots. So don't forget to tune in early and get a look at some pretty entertaining commercials.
You can bank on it.