Super Bowl Ads Are About To Go Up For Sale At Record Prices

With entertainment media facing all sorts of unknowns as consumers switch from television to streaming, savvy legacy broadcasters like Fox are doubling down on sports and other live entertainment as their new bread and butter.

The crown jewel of all sports media, the Super Bowl, famously fetches staggering price tags for advertising space, and Fox expects their next scheduled Super Bowl broadcast to be no different. Fox is reportedly opening up ad space for Super Bowl 57 (played 2023) next week, and is extremely bullish on both interest level and price.

Ad space for this upcoming season’s Super Bowl costs about $6 million per 30-second spot, and was reportedly almost sold out by June 2021. According to Seth Winter, Fox’s EVP of Sports Sales, the network’s price could tick up to $6.5 million if demand is strong enough.

Winter is replicating a strategy he previously employed a decade ago, when he worked at NBC and began ad sales for 2012’s Super Bowl 46 back in September 2010.

“If you know you’re going to be in the Super Bowl, why not make the commitment now,” said Winter. “There are any number of perennial advertisers that we can be very assured of will return to the game. So take advantage of engaging with us now, because the price is only going to escalate significantly, as we get closer to the game.”

Advertising prices famously stalled a few years ago after regular, multi-decade growth, but now seem to have recovered nicely for the networks. A $6.5 million price tag would be a record-high for Super Bowl advertising spots.

Like any business, timing is key, and it will be interesting to see how the price fluctuates between now and next summer, when supply has likely dwindled.

“The Super Bowl is more valuable today than it was at any time that I can remember,” said Winter.