Why Make Such a Big Deal of a Game That Only Airs Once a Year?

Why does almost every major brand seem to lose their mind and throw open their wallet when it comes to the Super Bowl? After all, it’s just a football game that happens once a year. Why the HYPE!

Here’s a clue. Which of the following was the most watched TV of 2022?

• Walking Dead
• Stranger Things
• Ozark
• Cocomelon
• Wednesday
• The Crown
• The Boys

The answer is: none of these.  All of these shows were juggernauts, attracting a large and loyal viewership. But they were nowhere near  Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl LVII, which was the the industry’s most-watched TV, with, 115.1 million viewers tuned in to watch the Big Game across Fox, Fox Deportes, and various streaming services.

Only live sports events like the Super Bowl, the Olympics, or the World Cup have the power to bring hundreds of millions (or in the case of the Olympics) multiple billions of people together to share an experience – and to be pitched every kind of product or service under the sun.

Super Bowl Parties: Holy Guacamole!

Advertisers start raking it in long before the teams enter the stadium. The fun starts weeks before at grocery and liquor stores nationwide. Here’s a conservative estimate of what’s spent on Super Bowl parties in the U.S.:

• 8 million pounds of popcorn

• 28 million pounds of potato chips

• 53.5 million pounds of avocados

• 222,792 football fields of farmland to grow the above

• 1 billion chicken wings

• 325.5 million gallons of beer

• 20% increase in antacid sales

All of this adds up to around two billion four hundred sixty million dollars worth of guacamole, wings, beer etc.  – for the Super Bowl parties alone. That doesn’t count what consumers spend later – after they’ve been convinced by a Super Bowl commercial to do so.

All things considered, it’s no wonder Super Bowl advertisers like Budweiser, Avocados from Mexico, and State Farm are willing to pay a massive premium for a 30-second commercial. The air time alone costs 7 million dollars. That doesn’t include the cost of creating the commercial, which can easily cost another million or more.

Coke, GoDaddy, Google and other brands hope for an increase in sales. But the money isn’t the only reason they want to be part of the Super Bowl. For some advertisers, it’s about bragging rights. Getting on the “Best Super Bowl Commercials” list the next day is HUGE. It’s a signal to your competitors (not to mention your shareholders and board) that your brand is a serious contender.

Up Next: the Super Bowl Halftime Show and what’s on the line for Brands.