In American sports, the annual NFL Finals, known as the “Super Bowl”, are the most concerned events. Every year, companies spend a lot of money to broadcast advertisements during the Super Bowl.
However, because of the epidemic, everything has changed. The Super Bowl, known as the “American Spring Festival Gala”, has also begun to make companies hesitate.
The variable date of the event under the epidemic, the greatly limited number of live audiences, the elusive public sentiment under the epidemic disaster… Combined with many factors, the Super Bowl advertising time has also become less attractive.
According to the New York Times’ recent statistics, this year’s Super Bowl advertising sales are much worse than in previous years. Last year’s Super Bowl advertising space sold out before December, and this year seems like a dream.
Super Bowl advertisements are also difficult to sell due to the impact of the epidemic.
Football has always been one of the most popular sports in the United States, and the Super Bowl has been the hottest battlefield for manufacturers to compete for advertising space thanks to the huge attention.
The Super Bowl in 2020 once again set a record ad revenue of $489 million, which, in turn, the average 30-second advertising space price for an average of 30 seconds, reached an alarming $5.5 million.
The high price proves the recognition of the huge commercial value of the event. However, in the context of the current epidemic, even the hottest Super Bowl advertisements are a little unable to sell.
According to the New York Times, the most recent Super Bowl in February 2020, its advertising space was sold out before Thanksgiving Day 2019 (November 26). This year, it is now the middle and late December, and there are still many vacancies in the Super Bowl advertising space.
Many merchants who have previously advertised during the Super Bowl also decided to withdraw from the Super Bowl early this year.
Too many variables make the advertising effect greatly reduced.
Although the NFL has previously announced that the date of the 2021 Super Bowl is set for February 8, just one date will not calm down merchants’ concerns about the outlook for the Super Bowl.
In these days, the number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States has remained at a high of about 200,000 in a single day, and the number of deaths in a single day has also remained at thousands. Under the turbulent epidemic, the Super Bowl is still likely to be postponed or even cancelled.
According to people familiar with the matter, for the purpose of prevention, merchants who have bought Super Bowl advertising spaces have also specifically stipulated refund terms in the case of cancellation of the game in their contracts.
But even so, everyone has no idea what the Super Bowl will eventually be.
Due to the epidemic, only 20% of the seats will be opened in the 2021 Super Bowl, and the scene of the previous crowd will not appear again. In addition, the impact of the epidemic disaster on people’s mood is difficult to accurately predict, and people’s attention to sports may decline.
How to make the advertisements not too “sad” and “bereaved”, and not too happy to avoid being criticized by “cold-blooded” will also be a major challenge for all manufacturers.
The Super Bowl champion is the supreme honor of American sports.
In the face of disaster, enterprises also choose to be cautious.
In an interview with The New York Times, a corporate executive said that over time, the chances of selling the remaining advertising space in the Super Bowl will be lower and lower, because it will take some time for companies to prepare.
“Generally speaking, at this point in time, if the enterprise has not finished shooting the commercial and entered the editing process, it will have some time to catch up.”
A person from a manufacturer who chose to withdraw from the Super Bowl said, “There are great benefits to advertising in the Super Bowl, but it is also very expensive. We’d better try something different this year.”
Even many manufacturers who have bought Super Bowl advertising space have made follow-up plans in case of Super Bowl.
Normally, in addition to buying millions of dollars of advertising space itself, merchants need to invest millions of dollars in related shooting and publicity, but this year most enterprises have chosen to control costs and be cautious.
As one corporate executive said, “We don’t know what the Super Bowl will look like in the end, and if it were ever, we’d definitely going to be all in, but there’s too much uncertainty right now.”
