A 2022 Super Bowl commercial will cost advertisers a pretty penny. According to Variety, NBC asked potential advertisers to pay $6 million for a spot on the telecast in mid-February. They also put a wrinkle in the negotiations with their eyes on the Winter Olympics.
Advertisers must purchase an equal amount of ad inventory in its 2022 broadcast of the Beijing Winter Olympics—taking place between Feb. 4 and Feb. 20 of next year. NBC is playing hardball for clients to guarantee a premier slot in the broadcast, such as the first commercial in a break or a spot in the first quarter.
This is a clear indication that NBC is scrambling a bit to lock down enough clients for their unusually large inventory of sporting events over the next twelve months. The pandemic forced a postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, so NBC will essentially have every one of their valuable sports properties on display over the next year.
The question is whether this strategy will work to fill up the slots. Last year’s Super Bowl brought in 96.4 million viewers on average—the smallest Super Bowl audience since 2007. The $6 million price tag is a record in the opposite direction. CBS and Fox both requested $5.5 million over the past two Super Bowls, nearly a 10% increase from NBC. Then again, there is one Super Bowl every year in an increasingly splintered media climate.
Super Bowls were always outliers when it comes to sports ratings, but now they are a definitive one. No other event throughout the calendar brings as many American eyeballs to a TV like the Super Bowl. Advertisers are well aware of every new streaming service going up and how the consumer is pulled in every direction.
NBC is hoping to capitalize off of that all while filling valuable ad inventory to start 2021.