Adding up the Super Bowl by the numbers

Jan. 31, 2009
Recession is gripping the country, but the Super Bowl is the Super Bowl — that annual holiday from reality that grips the country every year. And companies looking to reach the single biggest mass audience of the year will still spend to do it.

This year's broadcaster, NBC, is getting $3 million for a 30-second spot, an 11 percent increase over 2008. Struggling General Motors may be sitting on the sidelines this year (though the company is maintaining a pre-game and post-game presence), but traditional Super Bowl marketers like Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Monster.com and Pepsi are happy to fill the holes.

"It's the one event everyone is watching, it's tough to step away from that," says Bob Dorfman of Baker Street Partners, a San Francisco advertising agency. Companies peddling beer and soda don't face the same potential backlash over Super Bowl spending that a bailed-out automaker would, he notes. What viewer wants to see his tax dollars being poured into a $3 million Super Bowl spot?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28921767/

Saddest thing: with the economy in the toilet, the company that runs those cheesy late night "mail us your gold for cash" commercials has purchased a Super Bowl spot.

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Originally Posted by GothamSpotter

Saddest thing: with the economy in the toilet, the company that runs those cheesy late night "mail us your gold for cash" commercials has purchased a Super Bowl spot.

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Update: I've learned Ed McMahon and MC Hammer will appear in this commercial. :roll: