Spot for millions

 
TV advertising The most expensive commercials are shown during the TV broadcast of the Super Bowl. 
Companies paid an average of 2.7 million dollars to be able to broadcast their 30-second advertising messages on US television during the Super Bowl football final. Every year, countless US companies vie for the opportunity to broadcast their advertising messages during the eight hours of live coverage. This is despite the fact that the price of a 30-second spot has risen by around 100,000 dollars a year since 1999. The background to this is the reach of the nation's biggest sporting event, which is estimated to have attracted 90 million viewers to the screen again this year. In an attempt to outdo each other, advertisers spare neither expense nor effort to put themselves in the limelight. The lavishly produced commercials therefore often trump the actual show on the pitch. Some of the Super Bowl commercials of recent years have now achieved cult status and are passed around as hot commodities. The online sector is also trying to capitalize on this phenomenon. The film portal iFilm, for example, attracts users to its site by providing what it claims is the largest collection of Super Bowl spots.
"The best thing that can happen to a commercial is for it to achieve cult status," says Volker Nickel from the German Advertising Association. However, such phenomena are almost exclusively limited to the US advertising landscape; the TV sector in Germany - very similar to that in Switzerland - is not as dominant as in the United States, says Nickel. In terms of prices, the situation here in Germany is also still far removed from the US price level, despite the concentration on major events: "In the case of such major events, we have to pay around 160,000 to 180,000 euros for a 21-second spot". (elk)