How would you assess
this year’s Super Bowl – from the commercials to the halftime show to the game
itself? In this changing media environment, is the Super Bowl as influential as
a showcase for advertisers, performers, and the NFL as it was in the past?
Limit:
11 responses
Being a media studies major, my favorite parts of the Super Bowl include the commercials and the halftime show. The term “advertisement” takes on a whole new meaning during the Super Bowl. Many advertisers and companies spend millions of dollars just for a thirty-second spot during the big game. This year, thirty seconds of advertising space cost five million dollars during the Super Bowl. The game is always exciting, but when it comes to the advertisements and halftime show, there is always new and innovation technology that is used to capture the audience. The halftime show usually involves a spectacular light show going off while the performance is happening. Because of the changing technology and the fact that the Super Bowl is one of the most watched programs of the entire year, it is still a highly desired place for advertisers and performers.
ReplyDeleteThe advertisements that played during the Super Bowl always include many beer and cars companies. This year, the car commercials were frequent and meaningful. The techniques used by these brands were innovative and new. A car commercial started off with a few shots of children and family going to their activities, advertising the safety features of their vehicle. What was shocking was that the viewer did not know what the commercial was for until the very end. This technique was used multiple times during the Super Bowl, and contains many positives and negatives when it comes to effectiveness. Family friendly and feel good commercials always seem to do well because they make the consumer feel happy. The problem with these types of advertisements is that while the consumer may remember the commercial itself, they are not likely to remember what the commercial was advertising. This is because the brand it typically shown for one second or less at the very end of the advertisement.
Another brand that never fails to deliver on the Super Bowl is Budweiser. Their commercials typically include the famous Clydesdales and a golden retriever puppy that never fails the melt the hearts’ of the viewers. This year, Budweiser took a different approach and advertised a commercial involving immigration. The advertisement still includes the beloved Clydesdales, but the ad contained a more serious tone than their normal light hearted puppy commercials. With everything going on with the immigration bans, Budweiser took a clear approach on telling the immigration story of Adolphus Busch who is a German immigrant and also a co-founder of Budweiser. The commercial is said to represent the “American Dream.” This controversial advertisement lead to many social media comments, both positive and negative. It is interesting to watch as the delicate subject of politics influenced this modern advertisement.
DeleteThe halftime show always includes innovative technology, and gravity defying stunts. This year, Lady Gaga jumped from the roof of the stadium onto the stage. During her performance, lights flickered all throughout the stadium to the rhythm of her music. Every year, the technology used during the halftime show continues to amaze me as every year, they manage to out-do the previous year. As the years go by, the Super Bowl continues to be one of the most coveted programs to advertise, perform, and play during the entire year. As new technology continues to develop, the advertisers and performers will continue to capture the audience’s attention by incorporating it into their commercials and performances.
This year’s Super Bowl was certainly one of the better championship games in recent years. The Patriots are always a great team to watch and the Falcons have had a terrific season, so football fans knew they could expect a good game. There were mixed opinions on how the game would play out; most people assumed the Patriots were surely going to win, but NFL fans pitted against the Patriots had faith that the Falcons could come out on top. However, I do not think anyone expected the first half of the game to be as big of a blowout as it was. After the first quarter I saw a lot of uneasy reactions from Patriots fans that were in disbelief by the outcome of the first quarter, and by the end of the first half the entire room turned into a very somber environment. The game was so intense and everyone was glued to the television for each play, so once the commercials came on everyone would dive into a serious conversation about how the outcome of the next few plays would play out. Due to this, I realized that the majority of the people at the Super Bowl party really were not tuning into the commercials because everyone was so heavily encompassed in the game that we paid no attention to the commercial breaks, which is unusual for the Super Bowl. The half time show was one of the better ones in recent years and I felt that Lady Gaga did a great job at capturing the show. I can definitely say that the crowd I was with gave more attention to the halftime show than any of the commercials in between the game. The rest of the game was unbelievable and easily one of the best football games I have ever seen, coming from a non-Patriots fan.
ReplyDeleteThe Super Bowl has always been an event that garners millions of viewers, sports fans and non-fans, due to how it is pretty much perceived as a national holiday. Even if your favorite team isn’t playing, or you don’t care too much about football, there is still a good chance you will be tuning into the Super Bowl. This Super Bowl was the first one in a while that I saw everyone in the crowd much more honed in to the game rather than the commercials or the half time show. It is safe to say that the actual game stole the show rather than any of the rest of the media. I think the commercials and performances haven’t been receiving as much attention because of how much media we consume on a daily basis. In recent years, advertisers began to release previews or full ads before the Super Bowl to begin garnering attention, which is a solid marketing move, but it definitely takes away from the “big moment” of seeing a great ad for the first time (Maheshwari). I remember seeing Nintendo’s ad for their new console about a week ago, so when I saw it during the commercial breaks I didn’t even pay attention to it. I think this could be a common trend because of how frequently we see ads for these companies. I found it interesting to learn that advertisers have been spending an additional 25% of the cost of their commercial to start a mini-marketing campaign for their ad spot (Huddleston, Jr.). Two things that did stick out to me were that I noticed a good amount of the ads were politically related, which was something I expected to see (James). Another thing that I found interesting was the first live-ad premiered by Snickers, I thought that was really cool to see. Overall, the Super Bowl continues to become very commercial so it is definitely still good for advertisers, but I was happy to see the game steal the show this year.
DeleteWorks Cited
Huddleston, Jr., Tom. "Super Bowl Advertisers Hope To Score Touchdowns Before the Big Game," Fortune 30 Jan. 2017. Web.
James, Meg. "Super Bowl 2017 Ads Navigate Fraught Political Landscape." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2017. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.
Maheshwari, Sapna. "$5 Million for a Super Bowl Ad. Another Million or More to Market the Ad." New York Times 29 Jan. 2017. Web.
Danial Donnelly
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I’d like to say that this year’s super bowl was absolutely and utterly depressing. Being an avid Patriots hater, it is tough to have to admit Brady is now the best ever. That still does not take away from the fact that it was one of the best games of all time. I think that for the past few years, the Super Bowl has not been as influential as it has been thought out to be.
Super Bowl advertising has been just as popular as the game itself recently, and in my opinion, they have disappointed in the past few years. This year was no exception. While some of the commercials were successful, they do not seem to leave a lasting impression like they are expected to. Part of the reason for this is because the new ways people are viewing the game. When typing in “Super Bowl 2017” on Google, the second most searched word/phrase after that is “live stream”. This surprised me because with all the things that can be connected to the Super Bowl, people seem to be searching for different ways to watch the big game, instead of just on TV as per usual. This year was the first time I did not watch the game on TV. The game was streamed from an Xbox, which I did not even know was possible. I do not know if that changed the advertising for the game, because there were still obviously commercials playing during the breaks of the game. Either way, most people used the commercial breaks to talk instead of actually watch the commercials. It was as if for the first year in a while, nobody seemed to care what commercials were playing at all.
That being said, the Super Bowl is still the most viewed program every year, so paying as much as 5 million dollars for advertising still has its benefits. Nonetheless, the NFL as whole has lost a lot of influence with advertising. During the regular season, advertisements for games are mostly ignored. With online streaming and services such as NFL Redzone, which does not have any commercials, people rarely view commercials during games anymore. “The old-timers watched an entire game but are tired of all the commercials, while the newly minted fans happily consume the NFL in short bytes from non-broadcast sources” (Hans). The NFL still has, what seems like, more and more commercials each year. Steve Bisciotti, the Baltimore Ravens owner, blames the lack of viewership on the abundance of commercials during the regular season. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that nobody wants to see two minutes of commercials, come back, kick the ball and then go to a minute-and-a-half of commercials,” Bisciotti to the Ravens website (Schwab). I do not think it is the commercials directly that that influences the NFL’s ratings so much, as it is these alternative ways to watch games.
Super Bowl advertising is also taking a hit in popularity because of social media. During the breaks in the game, people tend to go to social media for updates instead of watching commercials. “Social media is also far more developed as an industry than it was several years ago, making it harder for agencies to maneuver their way into online buzz without buying a spot” (Maheshwari). The constant use of social media, and the countless alterative ways to view NFL games have led to the decline in the influence for the NFL, and it will eventually have advertisers less excited about paying 5 million for a Super Bowl ad.
DeleteWorks Cited
Hans, Cardiff, and Mike Groll/AP. "Fans Explain the NFL’s Ratings Decline." The MMQB. N.p., 27 Oct. 2016. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.
Maheshwari, Sapna. "$5 Million for a Super Bowl Ad. Another Million or More to Market the Ad." New York Times 29 Jan. 2017. Web.
Schwab, Frank. "Are Too Many Commercial Breaks Really Behind the NFL's Declining Ratings?" Yahoo Sports 19 Jan, 2017. Web.
Super Bowl LI on Sunday February 5, 2017 was nothing short of entertaining in my opinion. Many people gather to watch the big game as a social event and a way to watch elaborate commercials and high-stakes game play, which was exactly my plan for this year. “The Super Bowl is typically the most-watched television event of the year in the U.S. Last year, it drew nearly 112 million viewers, just shy of the record 115 million people who watched the game in 2015” (Huddleston 2017). Although the ratings for this major sporting event dropped from 2015 to 2016, I was eager to follow up with how 2017 would compete with previous years.
ReplyDeleteCommercials play a huge factor in successful ratings of the Super Bowl in addition to the game itself. With 30-second advertisements costing roughly $5 million, companies are forced to consider the benefits stemming from such a large investment. “While Super Bowl LI promises to deliver the biggest TV audience of the year, marketers understand that with massive exposure comes the risk of spectacular creative failure” (Crupi 17). The risk of failure during the Super Bowl is so high that many companies that advertised in the past chose not to participate because of the not so ideal matchup between the Falcons and the Patriots.
I was shocked at how many companies chose to purchase a time slot for a commercial that has already been aired for example, Sprite and Coca-Cola. “The willingness of companies to pay record prices for Super Bowl ads while simultaneously spending more to promote them shows how coveted consumer attention has become in the age of smartphones and social media” (Maheshwari 2017). I definitely feel that the companies that purchased advertisement space will benefit overall from the audience. No matter if the ratings increased or decreased from last year, there is still a crazy amount of viewers that will be watching which is why it’s so important for the ads to get as much buzz as possible.
I thought the half time show was extremely successful this year. Lady Gaga is an extremely talented musician and performer and the production was executed beautifully. I found myself capturing many moments I thought were iconic such as the use of drones, which I was mesmerized by. I definitely feel that room for improvement stemmed from her lack of special guests. I had high hopes from past performances that other collaborating artists would make an appearance and was disappointed there wasn’t a surprise factor. Overall I think Lady Gaga made a very strong case to promote her upcoming world tour.
DeleteI definitely think that amidst the changing media environment the Super Bowl is still extremely influential, maybe even more so than in the past. Although ratings are up in the air, the Super Bowl is still a huge tradition that Americans hold dear to their hearts. I have been watching the big game every year for as long as I can remember even though I’m not a football fan. People, like myself, that aren’t as interested in the actual game use the commercials and the halftime show to stay entertained. In this production, there are areas of interest for everyone, which is why I believe it holds such a strong influence across the nation.
Works Cited
Crupi, Anthony. "Fox Is Down to Its Last Few Super Bowl Spots." Adage.com. Advertising Age, 30 Jan. 2017. Web.
Huddleston Jr., Tom. "Super Bowl Advertisers Hope To Score Touchdowns Before the Big Game." Fortune.com. Fortune, 30 Jan. 2017. Web.
Maheshwari, Sapna. "$5 Million for a Super Bowl Ad. Another Million or More to Market the Ad." Nytimes.com. New York Times, 29 Jan. 2017. Web.
All performances, from the Patriots, to Lady Gaga, to Melissa McCarthy, proved to be impressive in this year’s Super Bowl spectacle. The Patriots were able to pull off one of the most exciting comebacks in NFL’s history to win the title. Considering it was the first Super Bowl to ever go into overtime, which meant more eyes on the television for a longer period of time. The Super Bowl has seemed to plateau over the recent years in terms of viewership and hype. However, the Super Bowl will always be highly influential for advertisers, performers and the NFL. Regardless of the changing media landscape, the Super Bowl will always keep consumers close to the television. Advertising spots cost companies around $5 million to secure thirty seconds during the Super Bowl. Advertisers are spending more money than ever for these spots, and also making them a larger campaign than just their airtime during the game. Companies “spend at least 25% of the cost of their commercial slot on marketing the ad itself” (Huddleston). The longer marketing campaigns allow advertisers to make worth of the $5 million spot. Bud Light has manifested its new tag ling “Famous Among Friends” as a part of its campaign, and Lexus issued a press release about its campaign and new tagline “Experience Amazing” (Maheshwari). Advertisers are also using this expensive opportunity to build their brand and establish their values. They might as well make a statement when there are over 100 million people watching. There were three commercials that stood out to me, in terms of making social statements. In the top rated commercials, there were those of Kia, Audi and Budweiser. Kia’s ad, “Hero’s Journey”, included Melissa McCarthy, and also subtly made a statement about the company’s values of environmental and social responsibility. Therefore, they were able to establish their values while also advertising their product. Audi’s ad called “Daughter” provided a narrative of a close father-daughter relationship. Through this ad, they established their stance on women’s equality and rights while also promoting their product. And lastly, Budweiser’s “Born the Hard Way” ad offered a narrative on immigration, accepting others, and kindness (Siegel). All three ads incorporated their values to build their brand with a big audience to notice.
ReplyDeleteAlthough NFL games have dropped in their ratings this season (8% to be exact), advertisers were not deterred. Regardless of the regular season ratings, the Super Bowl will always draw a large audience. It is “typically the most-watched television event of the year in the U.S. Last year, it drew nearly 112 million viewers…that’s a huge platform for advertisers to pitch beer, luxury cars, and many more shiny products” (Huddleston). However, the amount of viewers and hype does seem to be related to who is actually playing in the Super Bowl. If there was a Cowboys versus Patriots showdown, a lot more advertisers might have picked up on the opportunity (Crupi). Highly followed teams are going to produce higher ratings than less known teams, like the Falcons.
Works Cited
Crupi, Anthony. “Fox is Down to Its Last Few Super Bowl Spots.” Advertising Age Special Report Super Bowl RSS. 30 January 2017. Web. 06 February 2017.
Huddleston, Tom, Jr. “Super Bowl Advertisers Hope to Score Touchdowns Before the Big Game.” Super Bowl 2017: The Big Cost to Market Super Bowl Ads Before the Game. Fortune. 30 January 2017. Web. 06 February 2017.
Maheshwari, Sapna. “$5 Million for a Super Bowl Ad. Another Million or More to Market the Ad.” The New York Times. 29 January 2017. Web. 06 February 2017.
Siegel, Alan. “The 5 Best Super Bowl LI Commercials on Ad Meter.” USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network, 06 February 2016. Web. 06 February 2017.
This year’s Super Bowl proved to be an entertaining and exciting one. With a great game, great halftime show, and commercials to remember, it proved to be a game that will go down in history. Many of the commercials played to the issues being faced in today’s world and that was something that I found to be great. I found the halftime show to be a great way to introduce Lady Gaga back into mainstream after not hearing from her for a while. I thought her use of the stage and pushing boundaries, like jumping off the roof of the stadium, definitely made it a show to remember
ReplyDeleteIn this changing media environment, I think that the Super Bowl is still influential as a showcase for advertisers, performers, and the NFL. Although not as many people may be watching the Super Bowl as years before, the development of several social media platforms and technology has had a great impact on the way we view the event. Now, people don’t just watch the Super Bowl but rather Tweet about it, Instagram it, Snapchat it, and so much more. Information is now in the palm of our hands. I feel that now the Super Bowl is as influential as ever just because of the other platforms that allow us to talk about it.
While commercials were once only available to be viewed when they aired on television, it is now easy to find links to commercials on Facebook or YouTube, giving the commercials the views they want. For example, in his article, Huddleston discusses how much companies hype up their ads even before having them air (Huddleston). I think this is one way technology has been able to help out advertisers, performers, and even the NFL. While technology may be the reason for the decline in ratings, there is still the positive that shows just how much attention events like the Super Bowl can get on places like social media. Social media allows for players to get the exposure they need as well, for example, going through my social media, it was easy to see at least one post about Tom Brady everywhere I looked. This new media age has showed that exposure to things like commercials are essential. As mentioned, “The willingness of companies to pay record prices for Super Bowl ads while simultaneously spending more to promote them shows how coveted consumer attention has become in the age of smartphones and social media” (Maheshwari).
The Super Bowl is also still an influential showcase for performers like Lady Gaga because it gives these artists exposure. For someone like Lady Gaga who is making a comeback, it gives her the exposure she needs, and not just through our television sets. All throughout Twitter there were posts discussing the performance and it only further enforces the idea that these performers are getting the exposure they want through social media as well as our television sets. As discussed in a Forbes article, Lady Gaga was able to gain attention from people outside her fan base, giving her the attention she needs (Berg).
No matter what, the NFL is still being discussed throughout the various forms of social media, showing how influential it still is. I think it is safe to say that the changing media environment goes hand in hand with how influential the Super Bowl is because media exposes so much of what is going on in the world constantly.
Works Cited
Berg, Madeline. “Super Bowl Halftime Show 2017: Twitter Reacts to Lady Gaga.” Forbes.com. 05 Feb. 2017. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.
Huddleston Jr., Tom. "Super Bowl Advertisers Hope To Score Touchdowns Before the Big Game." Fortune. 30 Jan. 2017. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.
Maheshwari, Sapna. “$5 Million for a Super Bowl Ad. Another Million or More to Market the Ad.” The New York Times. 29 Jan. 2017. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.
Overall, I thought this year's Super Bowl game was great. Two extremely talented Super Bowl teams battled it out and it made for a very offensive and high scoring game. As a Patriots fan myself, I couldn’t have asked for a better ending than having them make such a historic comeback when everyone was counting them out and saying the game was over before the second half. It was also great to see Brady get his fifth ring and continue the Patriots recent dominance in the NFL. As far as commercials, I didn’t really think any were that notable, memorable, or even funny. It seemed that a lot of commercials were promoting upcoming movie trailers rather than being comedic such as past advertisements involving companies like Doritos or Old Spice. The one commercial that I did find to be funny and goofy was the one with Terry Bradshaw and his stained shirt, but other than that none of them really caught my attention. As far as the halftime show I thought it was a great performance. I am not a Lady Gaga fan on any level but she did a great job performing. It seemed that she used everything at her disposal with her flying in and using a bunch of props. Talking to friends and family who like Lady Gaga’s music, they were even more impressed than me with her performance. I think the football game itself was one of the more interesting and action filled games I’ve watched in recent years, the halftime show was awesome, but the commercials were a bit of a disappointment.
ReplyDeleteFrom my viewpoint the Super Bowl is not as notable as it once was in the past from an advertising standpoint with the seemingly declining content in commercials. From a marketing and advertising standpoint there still seems to be a lot to gain from releasing a Super Bowl commercial. Companies this year paid $5 million dollars to secure a 30 second commercial, and companies with ads spent an additional 25% or more just to promote the ad leading up to the Super Bowl (Huddleston). The ad price increased from $4.8 million in 2016 to the $5 million total this year. The cost of Super Bowl commercials in 2007 was $2.4 million, with the price more than doubling in the last ten years. To make the most of their super bowl commercials the majority of companies are pre releasing their ads through social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube (Maheshwari). But not all people see the Super Bowl advertisements and constant NFL commercials as a great thing for the game. Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti’s think that the large amount of commercial breaks are big reason NFL ratings are down. He believes that the best way for the NFL to improve there ratings is to reduce the amount of commercials during games (Schwab). To conclude things, I still think the Super Bowl is very influential in terms of advertising and marketing, but I don't think it’s as influential as it was say five years ago. The Super Bowl still offers a great platform for companies and performers, but it’s just not as prominent as it was in the past.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
Huddleston, Jr. Tom. "Super Bowl Advertisers Hope To Score Touchdowns Before the Big Game." Super Bowl 2017: The Big Cost to Market Super Bowl Ads Before the Game | Fortune.com. Fortune, 30 Jan. 2017. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.
Maheshwari, Sapna. "$% Million for a Super Bowl Ad. Another Million or More to Market the Ad." New York Times, 29 Jan. 2017. Web. 5 Feb. 2017.
Schwab, Frank. "Are Too Many Commercial Breaks Really behind the NFL's Declining Ratings?" Yahoo! Yahoo!, 19 Jan. 2017. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.
This year I would assess the super bowl as a pretty good one game wise and halftime wise but disappointing commercial wise. Through the years the Super Bowl’s big pull in my opinion was the ad’s. People would watch the game not for the game itself, but for its ad’s. However, over the years the ads have been declining they have not been as funny and in turn are not as memorable. This year only one or two really did standout and they were just different ad’s for the same product (T-Mobile)
ReplyDeletePersonally I would say that over the years the Super Bowl has been declining as a showcase for advertisers compared to how it was in the past. Not only can you see it through a lack of effort in the commercials but also through the revenue stream. This year it cost on average $5 million for a 30-second ad, and with the hope that because of the big stage the commercial is aired on advertising companies are rolling out big-budgets to make it as memorable to viewers as possible. (Fortune, 2017) Even though companies are doing that the cost for the first time in many years has stayed the same from the price of 30-seconds of ad space as it did last year. This just shows that the ad’s or demand for ads are declining compared to the past and maybe have less of an influence because less people are watching the game and instead are just following along on social media and not watching the game. Or it could have something to do with the loss of viewership the NFL had received this year.
Like always all of the spots were taken so even though through the season viewership was down It did not seem to scare advertisers off which is good for Fox who was hoping for a slightly better matchup like the Cowboys-Patriots or Packers-Patriots so they could maybe drive up the price of the ads slightly (Crupi, 2017). In the end though like the past couple of years I was disappointed by the ads when I watch them I expect them to be more memorable then they have been and to me that is just showing that the Super Bowl showcase has been declining and I think the lack of memorability in the commercials is showing that.
DeleteThe interesting thing here that should be looked at now and in the future is the declining ratings of the NFL. Will that effect the Super Bowl ads, how long will it take to maybe even make the ads no longer as special and just another piece of airtime in Frank Schwab’s article he talks about how the number of commercial breaks in the NFL are a reason for the decline. (Schwab, 2017). Personally I can see this being a possible cause to the decline along with the argument that the game is too violent, but if it’s in the case of the number of commercials then you can surly expect to see the pizzazz that they once had start to decline and maybe even faster than advertisers and networks predict.
Work Cited
Crupi., A. (2017, January 30). Fox Is Down to Its Last Few Super Bowl Spots. Retrieved February 07, 2017, from http://adage.com/article/special-report-super-bowl/f/307757/
Schwab, F. (2017, January 19). Are too many commercial breaks really behind the NFL's declining ratings? Retrieved February 07, 2017, from http://sports.yahoo.com/news/are-too-many-commercial-breaks-really-behind-the-nfls-declining-ratings-175654907.html
Huddleston, T., Jr. (2017, January 30). Super Bowl Advertisers Hope To Score Touchdowns Before the Big Game. Retrieved February 07, 2017, from http://fortune.com/2017/01/30/super-bowl-commercials-marketing/
Meghan Kane
DeleteLast Sunday the New England Patriots faced the Atlanta Falcons in what became arguably the most entertaining super bowl game to date. Personally, I am a New York Giants fan so I decided to root for the Falcons. I found the game extremely entertaining. The underdog took a twenty five-point lead, which was exhilarating for anyone who dislikes New England. And as much as you can hate on Tom Brady, he did end up bringing his team back to the lead, winning Super Bowl LI. There are of course people who watch the Super Bowl, but are not necessarily fans of the sport at all. It has been this way for years, however now the media is more readily accessible for just about anything you need. This means, all of those people who are just there for the commercials won’t mind missing the game because they can just find a quick Buzzfeed article that will comprise a list of all of the greatest commercials from the big day. When you take the Nielson ratings into account, you can likely suspect there to be a majority of homes watching the Super Bowl. In the article titled, Methodology Matters, they mention the relationship of live TV and social media. During the Pepsi Halftime Show, there were nearly 2.2 million tweets about Lady Gaga’s performance. (Berg 2017). These tweets are an example of Nielson’s idea of how consumers interact with programs. I think that for the Super Bowl specifically, social media is constantly buzzing. Whether you are tweeting about the halftime show or posting some trash talk to Facebook; you are talking about the Super Bowl.
I do think that the Super Bowl is still a key time for advertisers. People do tune into the Super Bowl for the iconic commercials. In fact, it is probably one of the only times that people will actually watch the commercials. Everyone knows that their social media accounts will be buzzing with comments on the Budweiser or Doritos commercials. It really comes down to inclusion. If you want to be in on the conversation, you have to watch the content. I think there are also equivalent amounts of people who only watch the Super Bowl for the halftime show. If the NFL were to get someone unpopular or outdated for the halftime show I can almost guarantee their ratings would plummet.
Personally, I think that the Super Bowl has been and always will be a popular event. Overall, I don’t think that they will lose enough viewers to stop the advertisers or halftime shows. It is an excuse for people everywhere to throw parties and get together to celebrate the admired American sport.
Works Cited
Berg, Madeline. "Super Bowl Halftime Show 2017: Twitter Reacts To Lady Gaga." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 06 Feb. 2017. Web. 07 Feb. 2017.
Schwab, Frank. "Are Too Many Commercial Breaks Really Behind the NFL's Declining Ratings?" Yahoo Sports 19 Jan, 2017. Web.
Huddleston, T., Jr. (2017, January 30). Super Bowl Advertisers Hope To Score Touchdowns Before the Big Game. Retrieved February 07, 2017, from http://fortune.com/2017/01/30/super-bowl-commercials-marketing/
This year I actually had the pleasure of watching the Super bowl for the first time in years. I either had no interest in who was playing or was busy with other things that were more interesting. After watching the Super bowl this past Sunday I realized that many of us payed less attention to the commercials than even five years before. Sitting watching the commercials during this year’s Super bowl did not entertain me as others have in the past. With all the bells and whistles of technology and the graphic design of these ads it made them to over dramatic and in all honesty in a way creepy. According to Tom Huddleston, many companies are “hoping to get the most bang for their Super Bowl buck, companies are increasingly spending additional money on all-out marketing blitzes that are meant to hype their ads in the weeks leading up to the big game. In fact, one marketing executive told The New York Times that it's common for advertisers to spend an additional 25% or more of the cost of their commercial slot just on promoting the ad in the lead-up to the Super Bowl” (Huddleston Jr.). I find it funny that they try and promote their ad before it airs during the Super bowl because I have not even seen the pre Super bowl advertising. I find that people are watching the Super bowl less and less every year. Many companies spend their biggest advertising amount during this specified time of the year. They hold out so that when most of the country is focused in one particular room they can make sure their message gets across. According to The New York Times, “The willingness of companies to pay record prices for Super Bowl ads while simultaneously spending more to promote them shows how coveted consumer attention has become in the age of smartphones and social media. It can also be a mind-bending thought experiment, given that the ads are attempts to sell consumers on a product or brand” (Maheshwari). In this case companies do not care about the spending on this once a year advertisement as the will get the most views on their product for the 30 second air play. The only important part to them is that they are seen. Although, what comes into play is the fact that many people now can watch the live game online and avoid the commercials. Even the regular season of the NFL had declining ratings and that was just a foreshadow of what was to come. According to Schwab, “’It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that nobody wants to see two minutes of commercials, come back, kick the ball and then go to a minute-and-a-half of commercials,’ Bisciotti told the Raven’s Website. ‘I’ve thought that was absurd since I was 20 years old’” (Schwab). With the declining ratings and the increasing commercial breaks there is no confusion on why there would be declining ratings on the regular NFL network. Maybe if there were less commercial breaks the ratings for the normal football season would increase. That is if there were less streaming options which this country now has an abundance of.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
Huddleston, Jr. Tom. "Super Bowl Advertisers Hope To Score Touchdowns Before the Big Game." Super Bowl 2017: The Big Cost to Market Super Bowl Ads Before the Game | Fortune.com. Fortune, 30 Jan. 2017. Web. 07 Feb. 2017.
Maheshwari, Sapna. "$5 Million for a Super Bowl Ad. Another Million or More to Market the Ad." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 29 Jan. 2017. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.
Schwab, Frank. "Are Too Many Commercial Breaks Really behind the NFL's Declining Ratings?" Yahoo! Yahoo!, 19 Jan. 2017. Web. 07 Feb. 2017.
The Super Bowl is not just called super for nothing. And by no means is it just another football game. To advertisement companies, media conglomerates, filmmakers and big name brands alike, the Super bowl (or the Superb Owl) is simply a grand spectacle with a tremendous stage set up to in order to reel in attention and to jockey with other brands for bragging rights. This year did not seem to vary that much from the typical Super Bowl cycle. The Patriots were once again playing on Football, and Americas biggest stage. The nation was once again rooting very heavily against the Patriots, by favoring the underdog Atlanta Falcons. The NFL recruited another mainstream pop artist, albeit a somewhat controversial one, to play in the halftime show. As they have been the past few years, the price major networks charge advertisement companies for 30 seconds of airtime increased slightly to around $5 million. (Fortune) However, there was some slight deviations that single this Super Bowl out from those from recent years. First of all, the Patriots made Super Bowl history multiple times. The most important milestones pertaining to advertisement companies was that New England overcame the largest deficit in Super Bowl history after being blown out in the first half. Typically, during Super Bowls or any football game, if a team is losing by a lot in the first half, the number of people tuning in to watch the second half will be considerably lower. Which means less eyes on advertisements set to air in the third and fourth quarter. The other irregularity pertaining to ad companies caused by this historic Super Bowl is the fact that the first ever overtime occurred. This meant an increase in airtime for both the game and commercials. Thus leading to more opportunities for ad companies to air their commercials for the 111 million people that tuned in to the big game. (money.cnn) This year’s Super Bowl for the ad companies was all about extending airtime for their brands. They wanted to get as much exposure to viewers as possible. In addition to the first ever overtime which extended airtime, advertisers used the big stage and the weeks leading up to it to hype up their advertisements. For example, snickers boasted in their “all-out marketing blitz” that they were going to pull off the first ever live commercial to air during the Super Bowl. In the weeks leading up to the big game, they released other commercials to promote their own commercial. (Fortune) Other companies, such as Turbo Tax, and Kia did similar commercials days and weeks ahead of the Super Bowl advertising for their own ads. This process of marketing an advertisement ahead of the big game to hype it up is not a new one, however has really picked up this year. When referring to a wave of ads “Now, the main question for companies seems to be how early to start.” (NYTimes) The idea behind this is that the companies can launch a new marketing campaign during the Super Bowl and save money at the same time. Since it costs $5 million to reserve air time and 25% on marketing for the ad itself, then companies can release multiple smaller and cheaper commercials leading up to the big game, and only have to release one large one during the Super Bowl. (NYTimes) This marketing tsunami just goes to show the size of the stage and how important the Super Bowl really is to ad companies.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
Pallotta, Frank. "More than 111 Million People Watched Super Bowl LI." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 7 Feb. 2017. Web. 07 Feb. 2017. .
Huddleston, Jr. Tom. "Super Bowl Advertisers Hope To Score Touchdowns Before the Big Game." Super Bowl 2017: The Big Cost to Market Super Bowl Ads Before the Game | Fortune.com. Fortune, 30 Jan. 2017. Web. 07 Feb. 2017. .
Maheshwari, Sapna. "5 Million for a Super Bowl Ad. Another Million or More to Market the Ad." The New York Times. N.p., 29 Jan. 2017. Web. 07 Feb. 2017. .