Fox Corp. is scoring big this Super Bowl.
The broadcaster has sold out of ad spots for Super Bowl 59 on Feb. 9, and more than 10 of those commercials sold for $8 million apiece, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Fox reported during its November earnings call with investors that it sold out of ad spots for the Super Bowl in the fall of 2024. At the time, media reports pegged average prices at more than $7 million per ad.
“We’re sold out for the Super Bowl at record — what we believe [is] a record pricing,” Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said on November’s call.
Much of the ad inventory for the Super Bowl was sold during Fox’s Upfront presentation to investors last spring, and when it became clear that open spots were dwindling, the price of each unit stepped up, said the person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic matters.
Typically, pricing for Super Bowl ads can escalate by about $100,000 as remaining inventory lessens and game day approaches. This year, the jump in price was closer to $500,000 per spot, the person said.
The voracious appetite for commercial time during the country’s biggest live sports event is no surprise, even if the pricing is eye-popping. Live sports continue to beckon the biggest audiences as the cable TV bundle shrinks, making the matches some of the most coveted programming on live TV for advertisers.
Last year, an estimated 123.7 million people watched the Super Bowl, which was aired on Paramount’s CBS broadcast network, streaming service Paramount+ and Spanish-language telecaster Univision, among other platforms, according to Nielsen.
In 2023, the last time the Super Bowl aired on Fox, more than 115 million viewers tuned in. These audience sizes are a key reason why media giants have shelled out hefty sums for the rights to NFL games.
“If I learned anything, it’s that we’re in a period now where the live sporting event, where people and families come together to watch, is that much more coveted,” said Mark Evans, executive vice president of ad sales for Fox Sports. “There’s an escalation in price and interest in the demand for live sports, but we’re not at its peak. We’ve still got runway for growth.”
The advertising market has been improving since its slump during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Traditional media companies with sports rights and tentpole live programming are benefiting the most, while advertising for general entertainment programming still lags in comparison.
This year’s Super Bowl, which will see the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs once again take on the Philadelphia Eagles, will have plenty of commercials from the typical players, including automakers, restaurants and food and beverage companies, with lots of familiar celebrity faces, said Evans.
Viewers will notice an increase in ads from companies in the artificial intelligence and pharmaceutical industries, while there will be fewer commercials from streaming services and movie studios, he said.
Evans noted that “multiple advertisers have fallen in love with the creative,” adding there will be more 60-second ads in addition to the usually popular 15- and 30-second spots.
Advertisers will also get a little more bang for their buck this year. In addition to broadcasting on Fox, the company is also offering the Super Bowl on its free, ad-supported streaming service Tubi for the first time. Tubi will air the same ad load as the broadcast network.