18. Advertising costs for the Super Bowl have increased every year
For the first Super Bowl, the cost of a thirty-second television advertising spot averaged $37,500 (about $292,000 today). By the first decade of the 21st century, the cost for a 30-second spot broadcast during the game exceeded $5 million. Those costs don’t include those for the production of the spots to be broadcast. At the same time, advertising costs for spots during regular season featured games, such as Sunday Night Football, were well below $1 million for a thirty-second spot. Clearly, the Super Bowl’s consistently high ratings, as well as the relatively newly developed habit of remaining in one’s seat in anticipation of a commercial’s entertainment value, allow for the high advertising rates.
There has been a pushback in more recent years, with several formerly highly visible advertisers abandoning the Super Bowl broadcast entirely. Among them were Pepsi (which later returned), General Motors, Dr. Pepper, and Apple Computer. Some advertisers shifted their focus to the extensive (some would say exhaustive) pregame coverage, which has driven up rates for those spots in recent years. Several companies which once advertised during the Super Bowl no longer exist, such as Plymouth and Pontiac, or barely exist, such as Radio Shack. RJ Reynolds advertised cigarettes during Super Bowls I and II, before cigarette advertising became banned from television.
