Is the Super Bowl Commercial Value a Coin Toss? - Greg DePalma-TiVo

Heads or tailsWatch for the commercialsamp8230 or the gameSpend 35 million for thirty seconds in the big gameamp8230 or a month of ads on cable TVLast year was one of the most exciting games in Super Bowl history and its TV ratings were astronomically high Super Bowl XLV became the mostwatched US television program ever and FOX became the first network ever to exceed 100 million viewers for a night in prime time TiVoquots secondbysecond analysis shows a steady rise of viewing as the game intensified The data also pinpoints the engaging commercials with spikes like an EKG In fact the most watched commercial scored 44 more viewers than the lowest ranked ad in last yearquots gameThe first commercial after the coin toss is always the most coveted Super Bowl timeslot because statically it is the point of the game when the most eye balls are watching The advertiser is guaranteed a highly engaged audience and has firstmover advantage to showcase their creativity It is the Madison Avenue kickoff and sets the tone for Monday morning ad critics At that moment Americans are glued to their sets waiting to be entertained by funny and daring commercialsBy way of example Bud Light led off last year with the coveted postquotcoin tossquot timeslot and purchased three ads in the first thirty minutes The logic here is that running more ads in the first quarter hedges against the possibility that the game is lopsided or an early blowout in which case viewers may literally tune it out Also at play here may be the concern that as the game wears on viewers may become more inebriated and as a result less likely to focus on or remember ads that run in the last quarter of the gameA secondbysecond viewership analysis of Super Bowl using TiVoquots data shows a significant difference in viewing levels compared with actual engagement with the commercials Super Bowl Sunday viewers grasp the remote with whiteknuckles during a gamewinning field goal attempt but more often Americans grab the remote to rewind engaging ads throughout the big gameMy first Super Bowl with a TiVo was 2004 when 4 of homes had this new device and predates my employment at the company We were rewinding plays and commercials to get second and third looks at great plays and cleaver ads As an ad guy I was quickly hooked on TiVo yelling quotrewindquot during the commercial breaks in the second quarterThis was also the year of the infamous Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction The next day I recall reading that quotaccording to TiVo the Janet wardrobe malfunction was the most replayed moment in the Super Bowlquot To this date Janet and Justin still hold the title for the most replayed moment in TiVo historyLetquots see if Madonna can engage the halftime audience with her new single and retro hits like vogue and holiday Heads or tails Fast forward or rewind Tune in Monday morning for the resultsGreg DePalma is Vice President of Audience Insights at TiVo Inc where he consults with advertiser agency and network clients to increase commercial effectiveness in a DVR world Greg can be reached at gdepalmativocomRead all Greg39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at InteracTiVotyCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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Is the Super Bowl Commercial Value a Coin Toss? - Greg DePalma-TiVo

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