Super Bowl blowout creates bad news for TV advertisers

Los Angeles Times

Advertisers who paid an average of $1.6 million for 30 seconds of commercial time in Sunday's lopsided Super Bowl probably came away as blue as Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Reeves, now a four-time Super Bowl loser.

The broadcast was the lowest-rated Super Bowl since 1990. The overnight rating for Sunday's game was a 40.2, down 8 percent from last year's 44.1 rating. Given the game's history of producing one-sided contests, Sunday's 34-19 victory by the Denver Broncos wasn't a surprise for viewers or advertisers. But marketing industry observers say that advertisers, like Falcons fans, went into the game with their fingers crossed. "Advertisers go into the second half hoping for a game that will be competitive and that they won't lose eyeballs in the second half," said Peter Kaplan, co-CEO of National Media Group, a New York City sports marketing and public relations firm. Executives at the World Wrestling Federation say they are pleased with their first Super Bowl commercial, a third-quarter ad that parodied professional wrestling's penchant for embellishing its matches with violence and sex. "If I really wanted to put my philosophy hat on, I could argue that maybe what I really want are the die-hard fans who are there in the third quarter," said Jim Byrne, senior vice president for the Stamford, Conn.-based WWF. "And, of course, if you're advertising in the first quarter, you have the bulk of the audience there, with all that has to recommend it." Football fans who gathered at places like Legends, a sports bar in Long Beach, Calif., whooped and applauded for their favorite commercials, which included spots for Anheuser-Busch's Budweiser and Bud Light. Tom Perusi, 41, signaled thumbs-up for a Budweiser ad about Dalmatian puppies separated at birth. "And the lizards," he said, referring to the talking reptiles. "They're excellent." Other crowd pleasers included the Victoria's Secret spot touting its online fashion show and an ad with an enormous Cracker Jack bag. "The ads -- people put a lot of thought into them," Manuel Trevino said. "There's humor in them. They make you laugh. The commercials are part of the program." Anheuser-Busch, the biggest advertiser in the game with nine spots, also came out on top in two nationwide surveys of Super Bowl viewers. SAA Research of Farmington Hills, Mich., said 30 percent of viewers ranked Budweiser as their favorite advertiser. TV Guide said the five most popular commercials in the game were for Budweiser and Bud Light. But, as the ratings suggest, the top two teams in the NFL and the best that Madison Avenue had to offer weren't enough. Some observers complained that the dearth of action on the field was compounded by a lack of memorable advertising during commercial breaks. "Even though the amount of money being spent on these ads was tremendous, I didn't see any dramatic breakthrough advertising," said Jim Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Enterprise IG, a New York-based corporate identity firm.

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