Traditional television is strong in one area: live sports. Savvy advertisers and big brands know that there are still millions of eyeballs that turn in to watch big, live, televised sports events, and they are willing to shell out very big bucks to share their message with those viewers.
Case in point is the upcoming Super Bowl LVI that will be broadcast by NBC. 30-second commercials are selling for 18% more than they were for the big game seven months ago on CBS. The current cost to book a spot on the broadcast is a record $6.5 million.
The CFO at NBC Universal is going to be busy the next few months, because on top of the Super Bowl advertising gravy train, the peacock network is broadcasting the Beijing Winter Olympics that will also start in February. NBC is raking in roughly the same $6.5 million per spot for those commercials too.
The inventory for both events is almost gone.
The Super Bowl this past February drew 92 million viewers, a huge audience but the lowest number for a Super Bowl telecast in 15 years.
The money should continue to flow into the NBC doffers for the next decade plus. They broadcast the Super Bowl in 2021, 2026, 2030, and 2034. On top of that, they are the exclusive U.S. rights holder for every Olympics all the way through 2032.
Who knows how much a 30-second commercial will cost then.
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