Another Super
Bowl record: The most ads
Commercials eat up 47 minutes and 50 seconds
By Toni Fitzgerald
Feb 9, 2010
It was the most-watched Super Bowl in history, and it had the most ad time in history, too, nearly 48 minutes.
That's according to a new study from Kantar Media, formerly TNS Media Intelligence, which found that CBS aired a record 47 minutes and 50 seconds of advertising, three more minutes than last year's record-setting game.
In fact, ad clutter in the game has been growing right along with viewership. The past five Super Bowls have each set records for most ad time ever, dating back to the 44 minutes and 15 seconds for the 2006 contest.
CBS, which sold out this game quicker than the last time it carried the contest in 2007, had said beforehand that it was trying to squeeze out more inventory to respond to a burst of late advertising inquiries.
One way it accomplished this was by selling more 15-second spots than usual, giving advertisers a presence in the game for a lower price than the 30-second spots sold for, rumored to be $2.5 million to $3 million.
CBS aired seven 15-second spots compared to zero last year on NBC's telecast. It was the most 15-second ads for any Super Bowl since 2002, Kantar reports.
Not counting the ads aired by CBS and the NFL, 41 companies advertised in Sunday's game, buying a total of 66 messages.
Kantar notes that small advertisers, or those who fall outside of the 200 companies that spent the most on advertising last year, accounted for 63 percent of Super Bowl buys, likely the highest percentage for any game in history.
It would make sense, then, that some of those cheaper 15-second spots were bought by non-top 200 companies, with their more limited ad budgets.
Though Anheuser-Busch was once again the top advertiser with nine spots, five more than No. 2 Hyundai. Dot.coms were actually the top ad category, edging automakers and beer makers with five minutes and 45 seconds of ad time, bought by eight different companies.
Carmakers were second with six companies buying spots, up from five last year. Total time nearly doubled, from 3 minutes last year to 5 minutes and 30 seconds, reflecting recent gains in the television auto category.
Four different beermakers bought spots, up from three last year, and total time rose from 4:30 to 5:30.
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