Super Bowl XLIX, the 49th edition of the Super Bowl, is scheduled to kick off at 4:30 pm Phoenix time at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. This will be the second Super Bowl to be played at that stadium (2008, Giants VS Patriots), and although teams are still battling weekly for the coveted spot, some stats, reports and rumors already flying around the game promise that Super Bowl 2015 – and especially Super Bowl commercials - will break some all-time records. From the stunning cost of a single 30-second TV spot to the laughable salaries earned by the players themselves, here are some numbers behind the biggest sporting event of the year.
$45,000
The cost of a 30-second spot in Super Bowl I, 1967. Green Bay Packers defeated Kansas City Chiefs 35-10, and for the first and last time in Super Bowl history, the game was carried by two – instead of only one - television networks simultaneously.
$4 Million
FOX’s asking price for a 30-second spot in Super Bowl XLVIII (2014). FOX sold out its inventory a week before Thanksgiving. As of today, NBC has yet to sell all its ad spots for Super Bowl XLIX.
$133,000 per second
The average price advertisers paid for a 30-second spot in Super Bowl XLVIII.
$4.5 Million
The asking price by NBC for a 30-second spot in Super Bowl XLIX, according to ad-buying executives quoted by Variety.
10.18%
The average yearly rise in the cost of a Super Bowl spot since the first game was broadcasted in 1967.
28
The number of Super Bowls it took for a 30-second spot to reach the $1 million mark. It took only six more years for it to reach the $2 million mark.
12
The estimated number of new advertisers in Super Bowl XLVIII. According to Seth Winter, VP-sales and sales marketing for NBC Sports Group and NBC Universal News Group, quoted in Ad Age in mid-December, most new advertisers come from the field of digital commerce and technology.
$96 Million
The amount of dollars spent in ads by the automotive industry in Super Bowl 2013 – making it the highest spending industry group in the event.
$1 Million
The prize money offered by Doritos to the winner of the Super Bowl XLVIII ad competition (“Crash the Super Bowl”). They’re also offering a “dream job at Universal Pictures”.
70%
The percentage of brands remembered by viewers after the Super Bowl, according to Bleacher Report’s study of Super Bowl 2014.
$12.4 Million
The cost of the most expensive Super Bowl ad ever which ran in Super Bowl 2011. The second most expensive ad was Bud Light’s Epic Night. It cost $12 million, and ran in Super Bowl 2014.
18
The number of years Nissan waited between Super Bowl commercials. According to Ad Week, Nissan will run a 60-second spot in Super Bowl 2015. The company’s last Super Bowl ad ran in 1997.
$250,000
The reported asking price by a B-lister celebrity to appear in a super Bowl ad. According to USA Today, A-listers demand at least $1 million to appear.
10
The number of times Danica Patrick appeared in Super bowl ads – all of them for GoDaddy. In 2012, while appearing in her tenth GoDaddy commercial, Patrick set a record for the most appearances by a celebrity on the Super Bowl.
5.24 Million
The number of social media shares for Volkswagen’s ‘The Force‘ ad in 2011 – the most shared for any Super Bowl ad ever.
1.4 Million
The number of social media shares for Budweiser’s ‘Puppy Love’ - the most shared ad of Super Bowl XLVIII.
57%
The percentage of nationally-run Super Bowl ads that used Hashtags - up from 50% in 2013. According to Marketing Land, Facebook was the social network most mentioned.
$350 Million
FOX’s total ad revenue from Super Bowl XLVIII. FOX broke the record set the previous year by NBC, who made $245 Million in total ad revenue from Super Bowl XLVI (2012).
$1.9 Million
The average yearly salary of an NFL player in 2013, according to data published in USA Today. That’s about 14 second-worth of a Super Bowl TV ad. An NFL player makes less than pro athletes playing in the other three major leagues – NBA, NHL and MLB, but more than soccer pros in the MLS.
$250 Million
The amount the NFL will earn annually by 2018, thanks to TV deals. According to the Huffington Post, a deal to televise Thursday Night football will add $275 million to that sweet number.
$1.4 Billion
The average worth of an NFL team as of 2014, per Huffington Post. This is double what the average baseball team is worth, and more than twice what the average NBA team is wroth. The richest NFL team is the Dallas Cowboys.
1.7%
The probability of a football college player making it to the NFL.
111.5 Million
The number of viewers who watched the Super Bowl in 2014. It was the fourth time in five years that a Super Bowl game has set a viewership record. According to FOX, an estimated 2.3 million people watched an online stream of the game, peaking at the end of the third quarter.
165 Million
Just to get a global perspective, this is the number of viewers worldwide who tuned in to see Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Championship League Finals in 2014 – breezily surpassing Super Bowl viewership by some 50%.
909.6 Million
And this marks the mind-blowing number of people who tuned in to watch (in any given minute) the World Cup Final in 2010. That’s soccer, folks.
Super Bowl vs. All Others
- The 86th Annual Academy Awards (2014), which was the most-watched entertainment telecast in a decade, attracted 43 million viewers in the US - 68,500,00 less than the Super Bowl.
- Game 7 of the MLB’s 2014 World Series, the highest-rated game of the series, attracted 23.52 million viewers – about 88 million people less than the Super Bowl.
- Game 5 of the 2014 NBA Finals, in which the San Antonio Spurs clinched yet another championship, attracted 18 million viewers. The five-game series averaged 15.5 million viewers.
198
Number of countries that broadcasted Super Bowl 2014 live. The first Super Bowl was broadcast on two networks, but in only one language.
25
Estimated number of languages in which Super Bowl 2014 was broadcasted.
49.2%
The percentage of households watching Super Bowl XVI in 1982 - The highest-rated game ever according to Nielsen. At the time of the game, a blizzard raged across the North East, which probably helped ratings a bit.
46.4%
The percentage of households watching Super Bowl XLVIII.
5.6 Million
The number of people in the US sending tweets during Super Bowl XLVIII, according to Nielsen.
25.3 Million
The number of tweets sent by all those people during the game, according to Nielsen.
539,610 and climbing
Number of conversations on Twitter about Ensurance – the highest trending brand in Super Bowl XLVIII. The ad was run after the Super Bowl, not during it, a fact that must have left some Super Bowl advertisers a tiny bit frustrated. The number two spot was taken by T-Mobile – which reached 309,780 conversations. According to Ensurance, quoted by Marketing Land, its campaign has earned more than one billion impressions and two million tweets.
4
The number of times 60 Minutes has led out programming after the Super Bowl – making it the most common lead out program in the history of Super Bowl broadcasts. Two more series have appeared in the time slot twice: The Simpsons and Survivor.
25.8 Million
The number of viewers who stayed in with FOX to watch New Girl – the lead out for Super Bowl XLVIII. The comedy had its biggest ever audience. That makes New Girl the highest-rated scripted entertainment telecast in the adult demo on broadcast TV in three years. New Girl was followed by Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which also benefited from the Super Bowl, breaking its own record with 14.8 million viewers. This year NBC’S Lead-out will be The Blacklist.
115.3 Million
The number of viewers who watched Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers rocking it during Super Bowl XLVIII’s halftime show. A year before, Beyonce registered 110.8 million viewers, and a year before that, Madonna attracted 114 million viewers.
0
The dollar amount paid by the NFL to Super Bowl halftime performers. Recently, the NFL denied rumors that it has actually asked performers to pay to be able to perform.
